Bushfire at Newmont’s Boddington impacts production and Bellevue Gold experiences another explosive misfire

Processing at Australia’s most prolific gold mine, located 120 kilometres south-east of Perth, will run at half pace after a bushfire razed water pipelines. Newmont on Wednesday said it expects gold production at its Boddington mine for the first quarter of 2026 to be about 60,000 ounces lower than planned, following a bushfire that raged on through Christmas. “Operations were suspended on December 24, and once the emergency situation stabilised, site inspections on December 28 confirmed that critical infrastructure—including the pit, processing plant, tailings facility, and key administrative buildings—remained secure and undamaged,” Newmont stated. “However, we have identified damage to a portion of the site’s water supply infrastructure. “Production for 2025 was not impacted by the fires, given we were able to maintain production for the majority of December. Mining and processing operations have resumed, but the processing facility will run at reduced rates (50 to 60 per cent) until the main water supply infrastructure is restored.” Investors thought more of Boddington’s planned production would go up in smoke, with Newmont’s ASX shares rising 4 per cent to $160.52 by 8.50am. Boddington cranked out 574,000oz during the 2025 financial year, making it Australia’s biggest gold mine in terms of output. Meanwhile, Bellevue Gold on Wednesday also released a production update for its namesake mine in the Goldfields. Bellevue mined 37,000oz of gold at a grade of 3.7 grams per tonne during the December quarter, which the company said keeps it on track to meet production guidance of between 130,000oz and 150,000oz for the 2026 financial year. But it was not all smooth sailing at the troubled mine during the quarter. “Underground development was suspended in the last week of December 2025 due to a safety incident involving the management of misfires in an active development face,” Bellevue stated. “The development activity did not resume until a detailed assessment was completed, delaying access to high-grade headings. “Underground development resumed on January 4, at which time access to the high-grade headings was regained.” Misfires are not common in modern mines but it happened at Bellevue at least twice during 2025. The West Australian previously revealed Bellevue was in the sights of WA’s safety regulator in February after explosive charges were laid in blast holes to open up new sources of ore, but one of the charges failed to detonate. Investors were spooked by the latest misfire and the subsequent delays to development activity. Shares in Bellevue slumped 5 per cent to $1.70 by 9.30am.