The company told the ASX on Wednesday the decision to review toll treating options was made because underground development, which is being undertaken under a $400m contract by Bill Beament’s Develop Global, was comfortably ahead of schedule at 6.7km.
Bellevue said the progress rate had been further enhanced with the delivery of a second jumbo in October.
Bellevue managing director Steve Parsons said it was increasingly clear the company might have an opportunity to accelerate the start of cashflow because of the significant ore stockpile it expected to accumulate before plant commissioning got under way.
“We are now studying options for toll treating in the region and considering the benefits this scenario could deliver for our cash position,” he said.
“We may also have the option of accelerating mine development given the outstanding progress made to date.
“However, the cost of this strategy would need to be more than offset by the immediate cashflow benefits.”
Bellevue said the forecast stockpile was set to exceed 200,000 tonnes at 5g/t gold, which would be partly the result of mining the planned Vanguard open pit from the first quarter of next year that would contain about 100,000t at 3.5g/t gold.
The mined Vanguard pit will then be transformed into the tailings dam for plant commissioning.
The company said plant construction was also advancing quickly, keeping Bellevue on track for first production in the second half of next year.
It said the project remained well funded with $277.3m of available liquidity as at September 30.
The company said significant de-risking of the plant construction had been achieved with the bulk earthworks started in September now complete.
Critical path concrete pours were also complete, including ball mill raft, CIL ring beams and crusher pocket.
Critical path and long-lead items for the processing plant were under manufacture, with key items starting to arrive in Perth.
”We are reaping the benefits of the decisions we made some time ago to order critical long-lead items early,” Mr Parsons said.
“This has helped us avoid supply chain disruptions and advance the de-risking process.”
