Toro Energy (ASX:TOE) reports that it is well advanced in its evaluation for the delivery of a stand-alone Lake Maitland uranium-vanadium mining and processing operation, following a pit re-optimisation campaign at its Wiluna Uranium Project in Western Australia.
Toro reports its research and development activities over the years has identified and evaluated opportunities that will deliver a substantial reduction in the size and cost of its planned processing facility for Wiluna, including a redesign of the plant flowsheet.
The new processing flowsheet was developed to include an initial beneficiation step that produced a low mass, ‘high-grade’ uranium concentrate, and was found to improve efficiency in lithologies with high clay content, with Lake Maitland reportedly being clay dominant.
The company has also achieved further success with vanadium now being able to be produced as a by-product of the leaching and treatment of Lake Maitland uranium ore at a small marginal cost including an additional $5.7 million in capex.
the redesigned flowsheet also delivers the potential to significantly increase the technical and financial feasibility of the Wiluna Uranium Project
In addition, the redesigned flowsheet also delivers the potential to significantly increase the technical and financial feasibility of the Wiluna Uranium Project, especially at Lake Maitland.
Toro also notes that beneficiation and process design studies for the Lake Maitland deposit in particular has resulted in a potential large capital cost reduction for the hydrometallurgical processing plant to $87.9 million from $134.1 million, as reported in the previously conducted study.
The Wiluna Uranium Project is located about 30km from the township of Wiluna in central Western Australia and comprises 6 deposits (including Lake Maitland), as well as an associated processing facility.
The project currently has a Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) of 79Mt @ 482ppm for 84Mlb U3O8 (200ppm cut-off) for six deposits, including 23Mt @ 916ppm for 40Mlb U3O8 (500ppm cut-off) for four deposits, with an average grade head of 800ppm+ and recovery of 86%.
Toro announces that reputable Japanese entities, the Japan Australia Uranium Resources Development Co (JAURD) and the ITOCHU Corporation (ITOCHU) have the right to earn a 35% interest in the Lake Maitland Project upon paying a sum of US$39.66M.
This proposed acquisition comes following the Japanese Prime Minister’s announcement that it will commence planning for nuclear plant re-starts and the development of next generation reactors.
