ASX-listed Perenti's underground mining business Barminco has been awarded a four-year underground mining contract, valued at about A$850-million, at Bellevue Gold's Bellevue project, in Western Australia. The contract term will start on August 1, with Barminco to take over from current mining contractor ASX-listed Develop Global.

The award follows a competitive tender process. 

“Barminco presented an extremely attractive proposal across safety, operational capability and technical expertise, positioning Bellevue strongly for the next phase of operational delivery and growth. Its depth of underground mining experience and global scale will further support Bellevue as the operation continues to mature and optimise," comments Bellevue Gold MD Darren Stralow.

Bellevue points out that Barminco has extensive experience in Western Australia with current contracts at the nearby Gold Fields-owned Agnew mine, as well as at Regis Resources’ Duketon underground mines, Ramelius Resources’ Dalgaranga mine, AngloGold Ashanti’s Sunrise Dam mine and IGO’s Nova Bollinger mine. 

The Bellevue project is a long-life, high-quality underground gold operation in a well-established mining jurisdiction and represents an important addition to Barminco’s Australian portfolio. Under the agreed scope of works, Barminco will provide all underground mining services to support the ongoing development and production activities.

“We are excited to partner with Bellevue as we focus on delivering enduring value for our clients, our people, the communities in which we work and, ultimately, our shareholders. This contract award reinforces Barminco as a global leader in underground mining, further strengthening Barminco’s underground mining portfolio and earnings in Australia. This award supports our strategy to deliver sustainable cash generation and future earnings growth,” says Perenti MD and CEO Mark Norwell.

“The award of the Bellevue gold project recognises the ability of the Barminco team to consistently deliver safe and reliable performance. This delivery is enabled by strong technical capability built from more than 35 years’ experience in underground mining. We look forward to working closely with Bellevue to deliver this high-quality project for many years to come,” adds Perenti contract mining president Gabrielle Iwanow.

Bellevue Gold says comprehensive transition planning has been undertaken collaboratively between it and Barminco, including workforce, equipment, systems and operational readiness activities, with a strong focus on safety, operational continuity and production stability.

The mobilisation and transition period will start immediately in preparation for the contract handover.

Stralow thanked Develop for its work at the project over the past four years, stating that Develop's commitment and partnership played an important role through the development, establishment and ramp-up phases of the operation.

Develop, in turn, thanked Bellevue Gold for giving it the opportunity to establish its mining services division.

The company has informed shareholders that that the completion of the Bellevue contract will coincide with the scheduled start of underground mining at Core Lithium’s Finniss lithium project, in the Northern Territory, where Develop has been awarded a A$274-million three-year contract.

“Our new contract with Core Lithium is ideally suited to our key strengths and will see us relocate highly experienced people from our Bellevue site to the Finniss project," says Develop MD Bill Beament.

Develop intends to retain the personnel it employed at Bellevue, saying the team includes some of the most skilled and experienced underground miners in Australia and, given a tight labour market, these skilled employees are expected to be valuable to Develop at its other contracts, including the Finniss project.

The three-year contract at Finniss is expected to generate steady-state revenue of about A$120-million a year for Develop and the scope includes surface infrastructure and portal establishment at the BP33 mine and associated underground mining activities.

Develop expects to start mobilising people and equipment to the project in June, with underground mining scheduled to start in July.

Further, Develop says work is also now under way at OceanaGold's Waihi North project, in New Zealand, where the company has been awarded a five-year contract.

“At the same time, we are preparing to move ahead rapidly with a direct shipping ore lithium operation at the Pioneer Dome project in West Australia. A technical and economic study on this outstanding opportunity will be completed in the June quarter.

“And we are making strong progress at our Sulphur Springs project in the Pilbara, with the exploration and production decline now well advanced and a final investment decision set for this quarter," Beament points out.