Bellevue Gold changes up exploration strategy to drive growth towards 250,000ozpa by FY28

Step-out exploration drilling is back in a big way at Bellevue Gold’s namesake project in the northern Goldfields as the company drives towards becoming a 250,000 ounces-a-year producer by the end of the decade. Bellevue has developed the $252 million project in the past six years, and poured first gold last October — but its intense development focus has limited exploration activities in the past two years. But the company says it will now shift away from a primary focus on infill grade-control drilling towards resource expansion, with its newly accessible underground areas to be key to this. It said the first drill rig would be operational by the end of this month. In its five-year growth plan released the week before last, the company said it planned to spend $60m on exploration this financial year and next, with a target of 1.5 million ounces to 2Moz at a grade of 8-10 grams per tonne. Bellevue’s current mineral resource estimate is 11Mt at 9g/t for 3.2Moz, including 6.2Mt at 10.1g/t for 2Moz in the indicated category. The company said high-priority targets included development of the Viago decline as a southern drill platform targeting southern Deacon lode extensions, including significant untested areas of the shear. It would also accelerate development of the Deacon North decline, establishing a drill platform to explore the gaps between the high-grade Deacon and Deacon North orebodies. Bellevue said it would establishment a Southern drill drive from Tribune underground, enabling the first modern drill testing of the Southern 1.2km of strike of the Bellevue Lode system and the major plunge continuation towards Southern Belle, which was previously unable to be drilled from surface platforms. Bellevue outlined its strategy to a group of investors, market analysts and media during a pre-Diggers & Dealers tour of the site, north of Leinster, last Wednesday. The tour followed the company raising $150 million and releasing its five-year growth plan. Bellevue has issued production guidance for the current financial year of 165,000 ounces to 180,000 ounces at an all-in-sustaining cost of $1750/oz-$1850/oz. But it is aiming to grow production by 45 per cent to 250,000ozpa in FY28 and to reduce costs to $1500/oz-$1600/oz by FY29 through the operation’s increasing scale and productivity. De-risking the growth plan and facilitating the exploration upside involves $175m of capital expenditure this financial year in three areas — development and infrastructure ($126m), exploration ($30m) and on the processing plant/tailings storage facility ($19m). Capital expenditure in FY26 was $140m (a category split of $82m, $30m, and $28m, respectively), and $80m in FY27 ($65m on development and infrastructure, and $15m on exploration). Bellevue managing director Darren Stralow said the five-year growth plan was “eminently achievable”. Mr Stralow said the capital raising aimed to “right-size” the company’s debt from $220m to $100m, with this reduction to allow the company to push ahead with its growth strategy more comfortably. “We would be under pressure otherwise,” he said. Growth was be delivered through increased underground ore movement from 1.0Mtpa in FY25 to 1.6Mtpa in FY27, and increased processing capacity from 1.0Mtpa to 1.6Mtpa by FY27. The number of miming areas would expand from five to seven by next financial year. Mr Stralow said the company would increase the number of jumbos from four to six to advance development rates to levels which had previously been achieved. Mr Stralow will present at the Diggers & Dealers Mining Forum in Kalgoorlie-Boulder on Monday.