PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Gold developer Bellevue Gold has awarded a nearly A$24-million openpit mining contract to a subsidiary of NRW Holdings.

Bellevue said on Monday that mining at the Vanguard openpit is set to start in late March or early April, and will offer Bellevue the opportunity to generate early cashflow via a toll treating arrangement. Once mined, waste material from Vanguard will form the basis of the tailings facility.

Vanguard is scheduled to provide approximately 10 000 oz which will be available for processing in mid-2023, well in advance of the completion of the Bellevue processing facility.

Bellevue is exploring toll treatment options with mining companies in the region and discussions remain ongoing.

Meanwhile, the company noted that as part of its plan to accelerate underground development at its namesake project in Western Australia, and bring on additional ore sources, the start of the Tribune boxcut would be brought forward to open up the Tribune mining front.

“The addition of the Tribune ore source will increase the number of active working fronts to five in the first year of production, further de-risking the production outlook by providing another independent mining area. Strategically, this will also provide options for drilling the southern extensions of the orebody from underground and allow for a top-down mining method, which will provide the most efficient method of accessing the orebody,” Bellevue said in a statement to shareholders.

The Tribune boxcut is scheduled to start immediately after completion of the Vanguard openpit, and this will create a considerable saving on de-mobilisation and mobilisation costs of the openpit mining fleet.

Meanwhile, construction of the one-million-tonne-a-year nameplate processing facility continues to advance on schedule and budget. Bulk and detailed earthworks for the processing plant site have all been fully completed, and structural concrete on all critical infrastructure foundations has also been completed with only very minor concrete works remaining. Work is also continuing on critical path carbon-in-leach tanks, with five now at full height and well ahead of schedule.