PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Uranium developer Toro Energy has started community consultation ahead of the release of a request to extend its already approved Wiluna uranium project, in Western Australia.
Toro has lodged a draft public environmental review (PER) with the Western Australian Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), which assesses, in detail, the impacts of the proposed extension of the Wiluna project through the development of the Millipede and Lake Maitlands deposits.
The extended Wiluna project would still be based on a central processing plant, as currently approved by the government, adjacent to the Centipede/Millipede deposits.
Based on mining at the four deposits, the Wiluna project was expected to have a mine life of 16 years, with average production of two-million pounds a year of uranium oxide (U3O8), for the first ten years of operation.
Total production over the life-of-mine would reach 30.2-million pounds of U3O8.
The ASX-listed company was already in discussions with the local Aboriginal leaders to provide an update on the project and to discuss the possibilities of local employment.
Toro MD Vanessa Guthrie noted on Tuesday that, once the EPA approved the public release of the PER for mining at Millipede and Lake Maitland, the company would continue consultations with the wider community, including hosting project information days in Kalgoorlie, Leonora and Wiluna during the 12-week PER public review phase.