Toro Energy is poised to launch drilling at its Wiluna uranium-vanadium play in Western Australia in a bid to provide sufficient ore samples to feed its upcoming pilot plant that is expected to begin operating in the next quarter.
The company’s aim is to generate sufficient drill-core to provide a bulk sample of 20 tonnes to the pilot plant that is being designed in Perth.
Management says it is planning to soon start drilling at all three of its uranium-vanadium deposits to provide an array of ore samples to its pilot plant. It will use large-diameter sonic-core drilling to obtain the samples from its Lake Maitland, Centipede-Millipede and Lake Way uranium-vanadium deposits.
It says to achieve its desired outcome, a review of the geological and resource estimation block-model will be completed prior to the drill planning. The aim is to ensure optimal representation of geology and grade through the pilot-size mill.
Toro says the pilot plant will test the entirety of the successful bench-scale research that it has completed at closer to production scale. It will also fully test the components of the newly-proposed processing circuit that tested successfully on an individual basis for the first time within a production flow stream.
Importantly, the pilot plant will be designed to further the Lake Maitland stand-alone operation and assume an extended mining operation that includes the Lake Way and Centipede-Millipede deposits, therefore testing potential bulk ore from all three deposits. It will be equipped to take a minimum 20 dry tonnes of potential ore through two campaigns of testing, both on the proposed beneficiation and hydrometallurgical circuits.
The plant will be constructed, commissioned and operated at Strategic Metallurgy’s facility in Perth.
Toro Energy executive chairman Richard Homsany said: “Toro continues to expedite crucial development activities at its Wiluna uranium project in WA, with the pilot plant a key step in substantiating the project’s significant scale and underlying value. Wiluna is set to play a key role in the global transition to cleaner energy by supplying economies committed to de-carbonisation with the necessary strategic resources.”
The company says it also plans to refresh and update its Lake Maitland scoping study that was first completed in 2022, to evaluate the financial outcomes from the project using the more favourable recent commodity pricing and exchange rate guidance. It says improving uranium market dynamics have allowed it to lower the cut-off grade and expand the stated uranium and vanadium resources at the Lake Way and Centipede-Millipede deposits by an uplift of about 25 per cent.
Toro says it received Federal and State Government environmental approvals in 2017, however amendments are still required. It says all tenements are secured, with mining leases granted and mining agreements in place with the local Wiluna people.
Mining would involve a shallow open pit to 15m depth and the necessary infrastructure is in place, with access to water, power and services.
The Wiluna uranium project is fully owned by Toro and is near Wiluna on the Goldfields Highway, about 750km north-east of Perth. The total mineral resource estimate at the project is 52 million tonnes grading 548 parts per million uranium for 62.7 million pounds. In addition, there is a vanadium resource of 96.3 million tonnes grading 322ppm for 68.3 million pounds of vanadium.
With the growing interest in uranium spreading around the world, there is also a potential finance option for Japan Australia Uranium Resources Development Co (consisting of three Japanese utilities) and Itochu Corporation to acquire a 35 per cent interest in Lake Maitland for US$39million (AU$59.4 million).
Terra Capital’s uranium pundit Jeremy Bond recently said: “China, I think, needs to do nine reactors a year for the next 10 years or something. There are 450 reactors globally now. And they’re looking to build 90 over the next 10 years.”
He added he saw potential for uranium going beyond its 2007 highs of US$149 per pound (AU$226) in the new bull market.
Uranium is back in vogue again due to the expected future demand for clean energy and with Australia’s ability to provide “yellowcake” to energy-hungry nations. That may well and truly put Toro in the driver’s seat to help meet that demand.
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By Craig Nolan
