Tag Archives: Bellevue Gold

DEVELOP’s new Underground Services division sets sights on Bellevue Gold project

DEVELOP, formerly Venturex Resources, has implemented what it says is another key plank of its growth strategy by establishing the company’s Underground Services division.

DEVELOP Underground Services will specialise in providing a range of underground mining services to cater to both DEVELOP’S own requirements at the Sulphur Springs copper-zinc-silver project in Western Australia and to service other Australian projects on a contractual basis.

In line with its strategy of also providing services on a contractual basis, DEVELOP has been invited to tender for the mining contract at Bellevue Gold’s Bellevue project in Western Australia.

Bellevue Gold’s stated commitments on environmental, social and governance initiatives, which includes a plan to become Australia’s “greenest gold miner”, and its project’s credentials, makes this tender a great opportunity aligned to DEVELOP’s own core beliefs, DEVELOP said.

DEVELOP Managing Director, Bill Beament, said DEVELOP Underground Services would enable the company to leverage the extensive underground mining skills and experience of its world-class underground DNA.

“We have quickly built an exceptional team, many of whom have worked together at some of the most successful and productive mines and companies across Australia,” Beament said.

“We are delighted to be given the opportunity to tender for the mining contract at Bellevue, which is clearly on the path to joining this list of world-class Western Australia projects. With a resource grade of 6 g/t and forecast production of 200,000 oz a year (years 1-5) at an all-in sustaining cost of just A$922/oz ($692/oz), Bellevue is about to join an exclusive global club of gold miners.”

He added: “There are only seven other mines in tier-one locations that can boast these metrics.”

Beament said Bellevue’s recently-released Stage Two Feasibility Study was testimony to the remarkable achievements of the Bellevue team.

This study outlined a 1 Mt/y asset with forecasted greenhouse gas intensity of 0.202 t CO2e/oz, with planned integration of renewable energy.

The DEVELOP Underground Services team and former Northern Star Resources head, Beament, will be helped in its pursuit of this contract by the additions of Paul Nilsson and Aaron Armstrong.

Nilsson, an alumni of Northern Star Resources and Barminco, has become Manager Mining Underground, while Aaron Armstrong, another ex-Northern Star Resources employee, has become Maintenance Manager Underground.

Ausdrill’s Barminco to go underground at Regis Resources’ Rosemont gold project

Having recently closed a deal to acquire fellow contractor Barminco, Ausdrill has announced A$171 million ($123 million) in new work across the mining space.

Its Barminco business has sealed a three-year underground mining services contract with Regis Resources at the Rosemont project (worth A$113 million), in addition to receiving the nod to perform decline rehabilitation and development works at Western Areas’ new Odysseus mine. Meanwhile, Ausdrill has booked a 12-month contract from Consolidated Minerals for the provision of exploration drilling services at the Woodie Woodie manganese mine. This comes on top of a similar contract with Bellevue Gold at its namesake project in the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia.

Ausdrill Managing Director, Mark Norwell, said: “These new projects demonstrate the diversity of the expanded Ausdrill group across different projects and resources, solid progress of Barminco, and the professional service our businesses have been providing to our customers.”

Rosemont has been a fully operational open-pit gold mine since March 2013 and is one of three Regis projects in the Duketon deposit area, 130 km north of Laverton in the Goldfields region of Western Australia.

Regis recently approved expansion of the mine to an underground operation located directly below the current Rosemont open pit, with Barminco to perform development and production work at the underground deposit. In August, the Regis board announced it had approved the development of an underground mining operation directly below the current Rosemont open pit exploiting the maiden underground mineral resource estimate of 1.4 Mt at 5.1 g/t for 230,000 oz of gold.

Barminco will commence mobilisation immediately and expects to employ around 100 staff at the project. Onsite works will commence in the March quarter, including commencing portal development at the southern end of the Rosemont Main open pit.

Barminco CEO, Paul Muller, said: “This project adds to Barminco’s extensive experience in the Western Australia Goldfields, with current mining projects at Sunrise Dam and Agnew. We will draw on our deep capability across Barminco’s people, equipment, systems, processes, and expertise in underground mining to ensure we provide a safe and reliable service at Rosemont and look to build a strong, long-term relationship with Regis.”

Meanwhile, the company has already mobilised on the 14-month contract to carry out decline rehabilitation and development works at Western Areas’ Odysseus mine. The contract builds on Barminco’s 14-years of continuous service for Western Areas at Forrestania, which includes the Spotted Quoll and Flying Fox mines where Barminco is the mining services provider.

Ausdrill’s work at the Woodie Woodie manganese mine, in the Pilbara of Western Australia, will commence next month, will run for 12 months and will require five RC drill rigs and one diamond drill rig to be drawn from the company’s existing fleet.

The company has already kicked off work at the Bellevue gold project, which will require around four diamond rigs to be drawn from the existing fleet.