Days before Diggers & Dealers in August, Bellevue, formerly Draig Resources, announced a maiden resource of 1.9 million tonnes at 8.2 grams per tonne for 500,000 ounces of gold for the Tribune lode within eight months of its discovery.
The gold was discovered at a cost of A$15 per ounce.
The timing ensured that Bellevue was one of the companies at Diggers & Dealers that piqued the interest of the likes of Canaccord Genuity, Argonaut Securities and Far East Capital, and was arguably the closest thing to a "buzz story" at the event.
Bellevue executive director Steve Parsons and chairman Ray Shorrocks were hoping to capitalise on that buzz and headed to Colorado for the Precious Metals Summit and Denver Gold Forum in the past fortnight.
Since the estimate was announced, the new Viago discovery has been made outside the resource, with hits including 4.3m at 58.8gpt gold; 2.5m at 13.1gpt gold; and 3.4m at 10.4gpt gold.
Last week, Bellevue released the latest round of high-grade hits from the project, which coincided nicely with Parsons' presentation to the Denver Gold Forum.
Drilling at Tribune hit 10.1m at 29gpt gold, including 7m at 37.9gpt, and 2.1m at 9.4gpt; while Viago returned 1m at 11.3gpt gold, 0.6m at 28.8gpt, 2.8m at 19gpt, 1.5m at 23.9gpt, and 3.35m at 37.4gpt, including 0.5m at 159gpt.
The 10.1m at 29gpt result was the highest gram-metre intercept, at 292 gram metres, drilled to date at Bellevue.
Visible gold was encountered in three out of five holes where assays are pending.
The results confirm Parsons' belief that the resource will grow rapidly.
Parsons told the Precious Metals Summit the company was hoping to add ounces at a rate of 100,000oz per month.
An updated resource is due to be released in November, followed by another in late January/early February.
Parsons said based on the most recent results, there could be an increase in resource grade in the next update.
The Viago lode, which has been extended to 900m of strike and remains open, is yet to be included in the resource.
The Tribune lode also remains open to the north, south and at depth.
Bellevue had $8.3 million cash at the end of June and has three drill rigs onsite.
Parsons said the plan was to drill, drill, drill.
"Adding cheap, high-grade ounces is the best value-add," he told MNN in Colorado.
What excites Parsons is the fact that there has not been a single drill hole below 500m depth.
He pointed out that WA Archean-lode gold systems typically went very deep.
The company will drill down to 700-800m next year.
Bellevue is enjoying a good run on the market with the stock jumping by 42% over the September quarter. Its current price of 23.5c is near January highs of 26c.
