Beadell in $US28m Brazil upgrade

West Perth-based gold miner Beadell Resources has started work on a $US28 million plant upgrade project at its Tucano gold mine in Brazil, with commissioning to get under way in the middle of 2018.

The company made the announcement to begin construction of the plant upgrade immediately, while also releasing what it said was a positive feasibility study showing a 138 per cent rate of return.

The upgrade will include a new ball mill and leach tank, among other initiatives, in order to deal with an increasing level of sulphides in the ore as the mine deepens.

Throughput will be maintained at 3.6 million tonnes per annum, Beadell said, although the recovery rate is expected to increase five percentage points to 93 per cent.

The company also declared West Perth-based Outotec would be the supplier of the ball mill and related equipment.

Beadell managing director Simon Jackson said the feasibility study showed the upgrade would add significant value to the project.

“Once complete we look forward to the mine being fully optimised for the first time with resultant consistency of production and cashflows, he said.

“As we continue to add mine life through our successful exploration programs, the mill upgrades are the foundation of the future for Beadell.”

Shares in Beadell were up 0.9 per cent to 22.2 cents each at the time of writing.