Thanks for the link pb….
Interesting to see how back then (03/06/24) BGL was being praised as the standout by all (Darko Kuzmanovic and other guy ) but Matthew Fist from Firetrail - who was favouring Spartan throughout … eg:
… “Deposits getting harder(to find?), costs are going up, grades are going down…
With an asset like Spartan with a plus million ounce reserve, and a head grade of five to six grams per tonne with a mill that’s already built …We saw that as a fantastic addition to anyone’s portfolio in the gold space, and likely to be a ten year asset as well.
And so from here we see continued resource growth, continued reserve growth and then really a pathway to what the right sizing of the mill is.
– The mill’s currently got a capacity of about two and a half million tonnes per annum as I understand it … Can they find enough of a resource to fill that mill up completely, do they need to downsize it.….…I think we’ll have the answer to that in twelve months, it’s going to be exciting!”….
On the subject of the Bellevue mill I saw in that BGL notice on Friday, Bellevue intends to spend another $40 on its’ mill as part of its’ [Five year growth plan] and that note first production from the mill (originally to cost $88m in July 2022) was only ten months ago October 25, 2023.
….…. and it’s designed to run less than half the Dalgaranga Mill’s capacity of ore !
Less than a year back (September 2023) Bellevue described its mill thusly:
(Capacity of less than half Dalgaranga?) Processing
The Bellevue gold project will use a conventional carbon-in-leach (CIL) and gravity plant with a nameplate capacity of one million tonnes per annum.
The processing facility will include a three-stage crushing circuit comprising a primary jaw crusher along with secondary and tertiary cone crushers. The crushed ore will then pass through a single ball mill circuit closed with hydro-cyclones to achieve a product size of 75μm.
The discharge slurry stream from the mill will undergo centrifugal gravity concentration, followed by batch-intensive leaching. The leach feed stream will be thickened to 50% solids prior to leaching in a hybrid CIL circuit comprising one leach tank and six CIL adsorption tanks.
The loaded carbon will undergo acid washing and elution following electrowinning to produce a pregnant solution. The cathode sludge from electrowinning will undergo smelting to produce a final product of gold ore. Bellevue signed a refining agreement with ABC Refinery, which will enable gold produced from the mine to be refined separately and marketed as a green product.[ref Mining Technology 20/09/32]
Bellevue Gold managing director Steve Parsons. Credit: Amber Lilley/Kalgoorlie Miner
GR Engineering Services has won the engineering, procurement and construction contract for Bellevue Gold’s 1Mtpa processing plant at the $252 million namesake project near Leinster.
Bellevue told the ASX on Wednesday the awarding of the $87.8m contract at this time was particularly important because it further insulated the company against rising costs.
The company explained the EPC contract was the last of the large capital expenditure items on the pathway to production, meaning 90 per cent of the project’s pre-production expenditure was locked in either via contracts or tenders.
Bellevue said as part of the contract, it could pay up to $7.5m of the contract price to GR Engineering Services in Bellevue shares, aligning GR Engineering Services with the project and reducing Bellevue’s pre-production cash funding requirement.
Bellevue managing director Steve Parsons said the appointment of GR Engineering Services ticked another key box on the path to production and cashflow.
“The appointment of GRES to build our processing plant means we have yet another tier-one contractor helping ensure we meet all our operating and financial targets,” Mr Parsons said.
“GRES knows the Bellevue project well, having been involved in the early studies. And they are extremely experienced in designing and building gold plants in WA.
“Their readiness to accept Bellevue shares as part-payment is a strong vote of confidence in our project and the outlook for our company.”
Bellevue said the processing plant had been designed so throughput could be expanded to 1.2Mtpa at no additional expense, allowing for ongoing organic growth at the project.
The Bill Beament-led Develop Global started work on the construction of the underground mine in May after winning the $400m contract in April.
Bellevue Gold in June announced an increase in reserves and now expects a mine life of 10 years when commercial production starts in the second half of 2023.
The company said probable reserves had increased 29 per cent to 6.8 million tonnes at 6.1g/tonne for 1.34 million ounces of contained gold.
The company said this was an increase of 300,000 ounces on the stage two feasibility study, and meant the life of mine reserves and mineral inventory had risen to 1.85Moz.
Bellevue in May said its mineral resource had grown to 9.8Mt at 9.9g/t gold for 3.1Moz, up from 3Moz at 10g/t, while the indicated resource had increased to 4.6Mt at 11.2g/t gold for 1.7Moz, up from 1.4Moz at 11g/t.
So that brings me back to Spartan and Simon saying on Friday at the end of that short Matt Birney radio interview that he has people working on plans to restart the mill but that costs are still “rubbery” .. [ref]
And the questions:
- how much is downsizing likely to cost? .. Vs other ways forward
- why did Matt Fist think the answers around what is intended for the mill won’t come till twelve months (next June)?
SPR Price at posting:
$1.28 Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
(20min delay)