Bellevue ramp-up reaches golden milestone

Underground decline development has now started at the Tribune portal, which will provide a second independent mine access route at the Bellevue gold project.

The Tribune decline, which will be the sixth independent mining area, is being developed by an additional fifth jumbo and is expected to access ore from the Tribune lode before the end of the year.

The new jumbo is a fully electrified Sandvik 422iE battery electric vehicle, which Bellevue managing director and chief executive officer Darren Stralow said demonstrates Bellevue’s commitment to electrification of the mining fleet where practical.

“The commencement of Tribune is important as it not only provides an additional mining area and haulage decline, but it also creates the platform for commencement of the southern drill drive to target mine life extensions,” Stralow said.

“The key infrastructure upgrades are a core part of the Bellevue growth plan and will unlock the ability to achieve the mining rates required for increased production.

“We are already seeing the benefits of increased ventilation and work areas in our underground mining rates, and the successful dewatering of the old workings unlocks high grade ore to mine in the upcoming quarters that was previously inaccessible.”

Development of the Tribune decline will also set the platform for the Southern drill drive, which will allow drill testing of the main down plunge extents of the Bellevue lode system.

The project’s underground development rates are scheduled to increase over the first half of the 2024–25 financial year (FY25) as infrastructure constraints are released and more working areas become available.

Production is expected to be back-ended to the second half of FY25 as further development headings and underground advance rates ramp up to a forecast run rate of 1.35 million tonnes per year by the end of FY25.