PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) has given its approval for uranium hopeful Toro Energy to acquire the Lake Maitland uranium project from TSX-listed Mega Uranium.
In August, Toro moved to acquire the Lake Maitland project in a A$37-million deal with Mega Uranium, as it worked to improve the economics and mine life of its flagship Wiluna project, in Western Australia.
Lake Maitland was expected to increase the Wiluna project’s Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant resource base by some 42%, from 54-million pounds to 76-million pounds of uranium oxide.
MD Vanessa Guthrie on Friday welcomed the FIRB’s decision, saying it was a key milestone in completing the acquisition, which would provide operational and financing benefits that would strengthen the investment case for the Wiluna development.
“Toro looks forward to being able to complete the acquisition so that we can integrate the Lake Maitland asset into the broader Wiluna project, which includes the approved Centipede and Lake Way deposits.”
The acquisition remained subject to shareholder approval, with Toro having scheduled a shareholder meeting for October 18.
Depending on the improvement of the uranium market, and Toro securing project financing, the company would continue with its efforts to bring the Wiluna project to production by 2016.