An infill drilling program undertaken at Bellevue Gold’s (ASX: BGL) Deacon shear – part of its Bellevue Gold Project near the historic mine of the same name in Western Australia – has picked up a high-grade shoot with up to 374 grams per tonne, with six similar shoots also suggested.
The grade of this one shoot alone is expected to push up Deacon shear’s mineral resource estimate (MRE), currently set at 1.4 million ounces of gold.
The shear comprises three main work areas: Deacon Main, Deacon North and Marceline, and the recent drilling concentrated on the former, which was discovered in 2019, and is set along the footwall of the historic Bellevue Mine lode.
Crucially, Deacon Main contains analogous mineralisation to the shoots which formed the backbone of the historic mine, where 800,000 ounces of gold were mined at 13 grams per tonne between 1987 and 1997.
This means the key shoot is also continuous and open down plunge.
Bellevue managing director Darren Stralow said the drilling program encouraged optimism both in terms of production expectations and further exploration in the area.
“These results replicate what the Bellevue Mine was historically known for: very high-grade gold contained in short strike structures,” he said.
“With infill results significantly outperforming the resource estimate in the area, this high-grade ore will supplement the early mine plan and ensure that we continue to see strong grade and solid production results as we ramp up to full-scale production.
“While this area has the potential to provide upside to the near-term mine plan, we’re also excited about the multiple analogous targets along the Deacon Shear which we can target with further underground drilling as drill platforms become available.”
Located along the Yilgarn Craton in WA’s Goldfield’s region, Bellevue’s project area has hosted exploration by the company since 2017, with first gold poured from its processing plant in October last year.
Commercial production was initially set for the second half of 2024.
Bellevue Gold is trading at $1.80.