PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The Western Australian Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) has recommended the approval of uranium developer Toro Energy’s extension to its Wiluna project.

The EPA’s approval of the expanded project is in addition to the previously received approval from the Western Australian and federal governments to mine the Centipede and Lake Way deposits, and to establish a processing plant at the Centipede mine site.

The extension of the Wiluna project will see the development of the Millipede and Lake Maitlands deposits.

The extended project will 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 is 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 will reach 30.2-million pounds of U₃O₈.

The EPA’s assessment of the extended project included a site visit and review of the potential impact on seven environmental factors including flora and vegetation, subterranean fauna, human health and hydrological processes, before recommending the proposal could be implemented subject to 18 stringent conditions.

The conditions would ensure monitoring and management plans were implemented to manage environmental impacts, the EPA said on Tuesday.

Toro MD Vanessa Guthrie welcomed the EPA’s recommendations, saying they represented a significant advance in the project planning.

“Toro initiated the environmental assessment of the extended project in early 2014, which has been undertaken by the EPA in a very comprehensive and rigorous manner. The assessment represents a further two-and-a-half years of substantive scientific studies, including those key environmental factors identified by both government and through public submissions as of importance to the community and environment.”

Guthrie said that Toro would await the decision from the Western Australian Environment Minister, following the review of any appeals that were raised by the approval.