GR Engineering Services Limited, following a preliminary works agreement signed in May, has entered into a contract with Golden Spur Resources Pty Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bellevue Gold Limited for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) works in relation to the 1 Mt/y gold processing plant and associated infrastructure for the Bellevue gold project in Western Australia.
Bellevue is forecasting production of 200,000 oz/y during years one to five at an all-in sustaining cost of A$922/oz ($653/oz) at its operation.
The contract sum for the EPC contract is A$87.8 million ($60.7 million).
Bellevue Gold said the award of the contract was particularly important because it further insulates Bellevue against rising costs.
“The EPC contract is the last of the large capital expenditure items on the pathway to production, meaning 90% of the project’s pre-production expenditure is locked in either via contracts or tenders (79% under contract and 11% under advanced tender),” it said.
As part of the preliminary works agreement, GR Engineering had already commenced work on the project. This involved design engineering services and ordering of long lead and design critical path equipment including the ball mill, crushing equipment, screens, agitators, leach and tailings thickeners, prior to entering into the now-signed EPC contract.
Geoff Jones, GR Engineering Managing Director, said: “GR Engineering is pleased to continue its involvement on this exciting gold project. Our clients are increasingly seeking certainty and a track record of performance and GR Engineering has been able to demonstrate this to Bellevue, including by reference to its strong track record of successful project outcomes in the Western Australian gold sector.”
Bellevue said the design criteria incorporates sufficient headroom to support an increase in throughput to 1.2 Mt/y with no additional capital required across the entire plant.
“Further expansions beyond 1.2 Mt per annum can be achieved for a low level of additional capital,” it added.
Bellevue Gold is looking to become one of lowest emitting gold mines in Australia, with a forecasted greenhouse gas intensity of 0.202 t CO2e/oz, with planned integration of renewable energy.
The design for the processing plant also follows this philosophy, with the design of the crushing circuit optimised to maximise renewable energy usage by incorporating higher throughput rates, enabling its use to rise and fall in line the availability of renewable energy while not restricting overall throughput, the company said.
“By optimising the power demand curve to better align with key daytime and night-time energy peaks and troughs in the generation of power from renewable energy sources, it will create the optionality for the crushing circuit to maximise crushing in peak renewable energy generation periods,” Bellevue said. “This will have the potential to offset more than 1 MW in demand on thermal power generation.”