Bellevue Gold Ltd. has approved the construction of a new 120 cubic metres per hour (m3/h) wet paste plant for its Bellevue gold project in Western Australia.
Construction on the plant will start in 2026, which is expected to be completed by mid-2027, with paste filling to commence immediately after.
Bellevue estimates the cost of construction to be between AU$35 million and AU$40 million, which will be funded from operational cash flows.
The company does not expect the construction of the plant to affect the 2026 financial year production or all-in sustaining cost guidance.
Bellevue said it will likely appoint GR Engineering Services to construct the plant, along with long-lead items such as disc filters, paste mixer and cement silo on order.
The company opted to go with a wet paste plant since it provides long-term value, greater production consistency and increased safety.
Bellevue noted that using paste fill has several benefits. It will enable higher recovery from the Deacon and Deacon North orebodies, with overall recovery expected to increase by about 7 per cent, delivering an additional 100,000 tonnes mined over the current reserve life of the project.
Paste fill also provides continuous wall support and reduces seismic risk by eliminating large underground voids and providing early confinement to stope walls.
Bellevue expects about 30 per cent of tailing produced will be deposited underground through paste filling activities, reducing the deposition quantity into the tailings storage facility, thereby increasing the life of the surface facility.
While paste fill will slightly extend the time to turn-over production stopes on each mining level, this is expected to be offset by the increased tonnes and ounces extracted from each level.
Meanwhile, Bellevue reported further hedge book reduction with the March 2026 and June 2026 quarters now entirely free of hedge commitments.
The company’s cash and gold balances grew by AU$5 million during the month of January to AU$170 million after paying the December 2025 quarterly royalties.
The current remaining hedge book commitment stands at 112,675 ounces of future gold sales at an average hedge price of AU$2,886 per ounce, representing a 26 per cent year-to-date reduction of 39,325 ounces.
Bellevue said it expects to continue using positive free cash flow generated from operations to accelerate gold sale pre-deliveries through the remainder of the second half of fiscal 2026.
