PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Uranium developer Toro Energy has confirmed a resource upgrade at its expanded Wiluna project, in Western Australia, after completing the acquisition of the Lake Maitland project.
Lake Maitland’s uranium oxide (U3O8) resource has been increased by some 27%, to 15.7-million pounds, at 500 parts per million (ppm) cutoff, increasing the Wiluna resource to 42.3-million pounds, at 898 ppm.
The Wiluna project now incorporated six deposits, including the Centipede and Millipede, Laike Maitland, Lake Way, Dawson Hinkler and Nowthanna deposits.
“The acquisition of Lake Maitland is a critical step in the development of the Wiluna project. The potential for a higher grade mining operation at 800-plus ppm head grade may now be realised from the initial four mines at Wiluna,” said MD Vanessa Guthrie.
“With the addition of lower-grade stockpiled material from these mines, as well as the resource at the Dawson Hinkler and Nowthanna deposits, we have the resource base capable of supporting mining operations at Wiluna for more than 20 years,” she added.
The Lake Maitland acquisition, which Toro acquired for A$35-million, was finalised on Wednesday.