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 achieves 83% recoveries from pilot plant for Wiluna uranium project
Toro Energy (ASX: TOE) continues to provide a very positive news flow for the company's Wiluna Uranium Project in Western Australia, with today no exception.
The latest test work has confirmed Toro’s proposed extraction process for Wiluna generally supports the original projected parameters and results.
This includes above 88% Uranium Dissolution, and to put into perspective, above 85% is considered excellent.
Greg Hall, managing director, commented “The results of the pilot plant testwork are very pleasing, and demonstrate that the agitated alkaline leach circuit is very viable for the Wiluna Uranium Project ore.
"The results provide a solid basis for our Definitive Feasibility Study and help improve our understanding of the engineering that will be required to deliver the Wiluna Project.
"Further testwork will now help us to refine the processing circuit and improve our technical knowledge.”
The integrated pilot plant campaign comprised two separate 10-day continuous runs totalling 480 hours of operation.
A total of 12,811 kg (run 1 = 6,219kg and run 2 =6,529kg) of material was tested through the two campaigns, with two separate samples of calcrete and clay dominant ores being tested individually to evaluate performance in the selected processing circuit.
Importantly, saline groundwater from Wiluna project’s Centipede deposit was successfully used as wash water and flocculent make-up water, significantly reducing the need for Toro to source high quality, low salinity water.
Furthermore, chloride concentration build-up is markedly less than previously predicted which will enable common materials of construction to be used and result in capital cost savings.
New tenements could add 4 million pounds
In other positive news for Toro, last Friday the company finalised legal documentation with MPI Nickel Pty Ltd that formalises terms for the purchase of three key mining tenements adjacent to the Centipede deposit at Wiluna.
The outcome is that the "Millipede" uranium tenements have the potential to add 4 million pounds uranium to the company's resource base.
Toro is currently working on a JORC Resource update for the Wiluna Project and the company expects the three new tenements will constitute a portion of the revised consolidated resource when it is released at the end of this month.
Millipede contains the tenements which have an exploration target in the range of 4–5 million pounds of uranium (1,800 tonnes to 2,300 tonnes) at a grade similar to the Centipede and Lake Way deposits of 0.04% to 0.06%.
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, which is currently focusing on development.
