Develop, the mining start-up focused on underground mining services, has been awarded the mining contract for the latter’s Bellevue gold mine in Western Australia.
The contract, awarded by Bellevue Gold, is valued at around A$400m ($295m) and covers a period of almost four years.
Under the contract, Develop will deploy its underground services division for the construction, development and production at the Bellevue gold mine.
Works under the contract are anticipated to commence in the quarter ending June this year.
Bellevue said that Develop was selected after a competitive tender process, which included thorough analysis of the tenders by an independent third party at each stage, for six months.
Also, the contract terms are in line with the total pre-production cost forecasts outlined in its Stage 2 Feasibility Study (FS), announced in September last year, said the company.
The stage 2 FS forecasts that the mine will generate $1.8bn of pre-tax cashflow over a mine life of 8.1 years, with an average production of 183,000 oz per annum.
Bellevue managing director Steve Parsons said: “Develop’s team of world-class underground mining specialists were perfectly suited to the Bellevue Project.
“Develop has built an exceptional team with extensive underground mining knowledge and experience in Western Australia gold operations. Applying their immense experience to the Bellevue mine further derisks the project on both an operational and financial level.”
“Develop has recruited a significant number of underground personnel and secured the latest equipment for use in underground construction and mining.”
Bellevue gold mine has a global JORC mineral resource of 3Moz at 9.9g/t gold, including a probable ore reserve of 5.3Mt at 6.1g/t gold for 1.0Moz, said Bellevue.
Develop managing director Bill Beament said: “Our team is perfectly suited to the Bellevue project, with decades of underground development and production experience, particularly in WA gold projects.
“We have access to an extensive pool of specialists across the required disciplines, many of whom are unquestionably world-class, and we are well-advanced in securing the latest equipment.
“Our business model has attracted extensive interest from industry people, we have strong track records of operational excellence on all levels and we are ready to deploy our skills and expertise.”
