Bellevue Gold – which is committed to a net-zero target by 2026 – wants its product to stand alone as it seeks to attract a ‘green premium’.
Bellevue Gold (ASX:BGL) will bypass the tried and tested orthodoxy of the WA gold trade for bullion from its high-grade, low-emissions Bellevue Gold Mine in the Northern Goldfields, inking a refining deal that will allow it to separate its gold bars in the hope of attracting a so-called “green premium”.
It continues a green theme for BGL, which has forged a power purchase agreement that will see Zenith Energy build an 88MW wind, solar, battery and thermal hybrid to supply more than 80 per cent of the 200,000ozpa mine’s annual power supply from renewable sources over an initial 15-year term.
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And Bellevue will eschew gold sales through the WA government’s Perth Mint and refine its product through privately-owned ABC Refinery.
The phrase “gold is gold” is often hear to describe the relative simplicity of the process of getting the yellow metal from the mine to the customer, with the ubiquity of the refining process meaning there is little in the way of the customer-specific quality specification that can cause commercial headaches for nickel miners and lithium producers.
It means gold is normally blended in the refining process.
But in a world of supply chain provenance and net zero, that is not always going to be fit for purpose.
ABC will separate Bellevue’s gold and sell it separately.
Once Bellevue has achieved net zero status – it has an ambitious 2026 target backed by linked performance rights from its board down to the goldie’s entry-level fieldies, trade assistants and mill operators – it will attempt to market the gold bars at a ‘green premium’.
“The green gold is still a couple of years away, but we’re not net zero yet,” Bellevue’s MD Darren Stralow said.
“What we’ve got with them is an agreement to seek customers for mutual benefi that could potentially pay a premium for green gold.
“It’s a market that doesn’t exist yet because no one’s producing it. We’re taking the philosophy of ‘if you build it, they will come’ (ED: Thanks Kevin Costner).
“The fallback really is if you can’t sell it for a premium, you’re just selling it for spot anyway, which is what you do regardless.
“But the view that we have is every $5 extra on 200,000oz a year is worth a million bucks.
“So it’s worth us running down every rabbit hole looking for the customers that are going to want that premium.”
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Going green
Bellevue, which will produce its first gold doré (a mixture of precious metals, to be sent for further refinement) in the December quarter, is the latest to sign up with Zenith, which is also building a 95MW power plant at Liontown Resources’ (ASX:LTR) nearby Kathleen Valley litium mine.
Stralow says each of its major components – wind, solar and thermal – would be able to supply 100 per cent of the mine, camp and processing plant’s power requirements with battery back-up to enable switching between modes depending on the resource available at the time.
It means that Bellevue will be able to operate at times with 100 per cent renewable power and keep its thermal back-up “engine off” in times of high sunshine or wind generation.
Other parts of the mine will take longer to switch from fossil fuels, including its haulage, mine fleet and transport.
Bellevue has joined the Electric Mine Consortium, a collective of 20 ASX-listed and private mining and services companies seeking solutions to decarbonise the industry.
“We’re still a few years away from a fully electrified mining fleet. There is a plan together about how we’re going to do it and there is certain equipment that’s being trialled at the moment,” Stralow admitted.
“So what we’re doing is we’re startng with the smaller gear, so there’s a few electric LVs that are starting to penetrate the market and several trials under way to look at that.
“Then you go up to the bigger gear like your ancillary equipment, jumbos, drills, charge up rigs, and then we’ll get to the bigger equipment which leads to higher energy density later down the track when technology improves.
“But across the EMC there are several equipment trials that have been completed or are currently under way trying different types of electrical equipment at mines all around Australia.
“And that’s the power of having a consortium of all those different companies is that you can do lots of different trials, get lots of data back and really optimise what technology and what equipment you go with.”