Bellevue Gold Limited has signed an Early Works Agreement with Energy Developments Pty Ltd (EDL), a Tier-1 provider of sustainable distributed energy, for an off-grid hybrid power station to be built at its Bellevue Gold Project in Western Australia.
Bellevue has now secured the long-lead items required for the hybrid power station.
The Agreement is a pivotal step in Bellevue’s strategy to minimise greenhouse gas emissions, with the project to be powered by a forecast average of 80% renewable energy per annum.
The hybrid power solution will consist of wind and solar generation, as well as a battery and thermal generation to supply the site’s power requirement of about 13MW.
The power station will enable the mine to have the lowest Scope-1 emissions of any major gold mine in Australia, providing the cleanest power on a greenhouse-gas-per-kilowatt hour basis; and forecast emissions intensity of 0.15t CO2e/oz to 0.2t CO2e/oz will be the lowest of any major Australian gold mine.
The hybrid power station will enable the project to operate on 100% renewable energy and ‘engines off’ mode.
Bellevue’s processing circuit has been designed to maximise the natural resources of wind and solar, providing a direct cost reduction and emission-free energy use, by time shifting up to 1MW of power use, to times of ample low-cost and zero emission renewable energy.
The company has also signed a Native Title Agreement (NTA) with Tijwarl Aboriginal Corporation as the holder on trust for the Tijwarl Native Title Holders, being the native title rights and interests holders and traditional owners of the land which hosts the Bellevue Gold Project in WA’s north-eastern Goldfields.
The NTA follows highly constructive and mutually beneficial collaboration between the Tjiwarl AC and Bellevue.
The signing of the NTA formalises Bellevue’s commitment to Tjiwarl AC and the Tjiwarl Native Title Holders of the land on which the Company operates.
The Agreement was formally signed following a community meeting of Tjiwarl AC in Leinster.
It was executed at the Bellevue Gold Project on behalf of the Tjiwarl AC by Chairperson and Native Title Holder, Brett Lewis and Tjiwarl AC Director and Member of the Negotiation Team, Mr Kado Muir and on behalf of Bellevue by the Company’s Chairman Kevin Tomlinson.
Tjiwarl AC is the Prescribed Body Corporate that holds the native title on trust on behalf of the Tjiwarl Native Title Holders, representing 11 families who have been recognised by the Federal Court as being the holders of native title rights and interests within the Tjiwarl Determination area.
This area covers about 13,000 square kilometres of land and waters located between Leinster and Wiluna in the North-eastern Goldfields region.
The NTA secures the protection and upholding of cultural values at the Project while maintaining the Project’s development schedule and forecast industry-leading economic outputs.
The process involved extensive community consultation and gave the opportunity for many Tjiwarl native title holders to visit country, engage with the Bellevue team and review the proposed Project layouts and designs.
Tjiwarl AC and Bellevue were able to work together through this process to ensure that cultural and heritage considerations have been included in the fundamental surface design and layout of the Project, protecting sensitive areas and developing a co-designed Cultural Heritage Management Plan to manage future activities.
As part of the NTA, which provides compensation for all historic and future claims against the Project tenements, Bellevue has committed to a broad range of actions as a fundamental part of its development strategy, including Land and Water Management, Aboriginal Heritage Management, Cultural Awareness and Access, Social Opportunities and Development, Employment and Contracting opportunities and Compensation.