Exploration drilling at the Bellevue project within Western Australia’s Yilgarn Craton has returned bonanza-grade ore shoots and one of the best intercepts to-date for owner Bellevue Gold (ASX: BGL).
Drilling at the newly-discovered Deacon and Mavis lodes within the flagship project has confirmed significant high-grade mineralisation, including an intercept of 4.4m at 62.4 grams per tonne gold.
The results were taken from recent diamond core drilling in a previously-undrilled area directly below the historic Bellevue underground mine, which produced 800,000 ounces of gold at 15g/t from 1986 to 1997 before closing in a low gold price environment.
Drill-ready targets
The new intercept is associated with semi-massive pyrrhotite, trace chalcopyrite and visible gold mineralisation and has been regarded as the best to-date at the project.
It is located just 100m along strike from first results announced last month from Deacon, which included 3.6m at 18.3g/t gold.
The parallel Mavis lode – located 60m into Deacon’s footwall – returned 2.2m at 38.0g/t gold, including 1.1m at 75.3g/t gold from 654.6m.
Mineralisation at both lodes is reported to be open in all directions, representing a major “resource drill-ready” target for Bellevue.
Results have now been received for 10 holes from a completed 14 holes targeting the Deacon discovery, with Bellevue-style biotite shearing intercepted in all holes and quartz sulphide and visible gold mineralisation logged in eight of the holes.
Diamond drilling
Drilling at the Bellevue project is continuing with six diamond rigs operating on double shifts.
Three rigs are currently testing the Deacon and Mavis discoveries and following up on resource step-out targets.
The remaining rigs have commenced infill drilling on shallow areas to upgrade the resource category.
Study work has commenced to evaluate the potential of dewatering the underground development to enable refurbishment and re-entry.
Relevant licences for dewatering have been received from the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety in advance of the study.
New appointment
Bellevue this morning announced Kevin Tomlinson as its new non-executive chairman, charged with guiding the company through its next phase of growth.
With over 35 years of experience in mining and finance, Mr Tomlinson previously worked on the Bellevue project during his time as a senior manager with (now de-listed) Plutonic Resources.
“Bellevue is one of those very special high-grade gold projects that do not come around very often,” he said.
“I am delighted to be involved again with Bellevue to help deliver [the project to] its full potential.”
Last week, Bellevue Gold was among 17 new additions to the S&P/ASX 300 index.
At midday, shares in Bellevue Gold were up 6.72% to $0.635.
