www.toroenergy.com.au
Toro Energy (ASX: TOE) is well placed to operate one of the first new Western Australian uranium mines. The company is also an explorer in Western Australia, the Northern Territory, South Australia and in the African country of Namibia.
The Wiluna Project is at an advanced stage in government assessment and approval, with Toro planning to commit to construction late next year for first production in 2013. The project hosts two shallow (generally less than 10m deep) calcrete deposits with a Measured, Indicated and Inferred resource of 24.4Mlbs of contained Uranium (U3O8) in the current project approved.
Toro Energy new uranium tenements could add 4 million pounds uranium to resource base
Toro Energy (ASX: TOE) has entered an agreement with MPI Nickel Pty Ltd to acquire three additional uranium tenements (Millipede) adjacent to its 30.6 million pound Wiluna Uranium Project in Western Australia.
The acquisition and tenements have an exploration target for the three tenements covering Millipede in the range of 4 – 5 million pounds of U3O8 (1,800t-2,300t) at a grade similar to the Centipede and Lake Way deposits (0.04%-0.06% or 400-600ppm).
Consideration for the tenements includes a A$4.5 million cash payment to the vendor MPI Nickel Pty Ltd and 2% Net Smelter Return (NSR) style royalty in favour of MPI on production in excess of 4.5 Mlb U3O8 from the tenements.
MPI is a subsidiary of Norilsk Nickel Australia Pty Ltd and holds a 100% interest in tenements M53/590 and M53/693 and a 90% interest in tenement M53/336.
MPI will retain the rights to all non-uranium minerals (other than as a by-product of uranium mining of co-mingled ores).
In addition, Toro and MPI will establish an access agreement which will allow access by MPI to Toro’s recently acquired Lake Way and Millbillillie pastoral leases for exploration purposes.
Two of the three mining tenements (M53/590 and M53/693) were granted during the period when uranium was specifically excluded from the mining rights.
This exclusion is no longer required by the Western Australian Government and Toro intends to have the uranium exclusion removed in due course.
Toro secured tenements at Wiluna late last year from U308 Limited (ASX: UTO) and the Minerals and Metals Group. The three tenements add to the area and cover a uranium mineralised zone called Millipede which borders Toro’s Centipede deposit.
The Centipede and Lake Way deposits form the Wiluna Uranium Project for which Toro is seeking Government approvals to begin mining in 2013.
Toro is bullish the exploration target range for Millipede will add to the current Wiluna resource base of 30.6Mlb U3O8 (29.7Mt at 467ppm for 13,870t contained uranium at 200ppm U3O8 cut-off).
Toro’s Managing Director, Greg Hall, said that "while the uranium exploration target at Millipede is small by international standards, the acquisition is an important one for Toro and adds to the robustness of the Wiluna Uranium Project, which is currently focusing on the development of the Lake Way and Centipede deposits.”
Once this agreement is finalised, Toro will look to announce a new resource, compliant with the JORC code, over the project area during the first half of 2011.
