Toro Energy (ASX:TOE) Pit Re-Optimisation Increases Potential Uranium Ore At Lake Maitland

Toro Energy’s (TOE) pit re-optimisation work has increased the potential ore at the Lake Maitland uranium deposit within the Wiluna Uranium Project in Western Australia’s northern goldfields region.

The scoping level re-optimisation of the mining pit demonstrated the possibility for it to act as a stand-alone operation, and was completed as part of the Lake Maitland scoping study.

Toro’s research proved that a stand-alone Lake Maitland operation has the potential to substantially reduce the average grade of the resource that may be viable to mine, compared to its mining as part of the greater Wiluna Uranium Project, while reducing costs.

Incorporating the recent processing improvements and potential cost reductions would mean more of the resource would be potential ore, and therefore the company could see a large increase in uranium oxide.

Toro said this makes a stand-alone Lake Maitland operation a genuine option for the company going forward.

The re-optimisation study outlined a 167 per cent increase in potential ore, from 13.2 million tonnes to 35.2 million tonnes, along with a 50 per cent increase in potential uranium production.

It also offered a 74 per cent increase forecast mine life from 10.1 years to 17.6 years, despite a 54 per cent increase in processing throughput for the revised processing plant.

Toro’s Executive Chairman, Richard Homsany said the re-optimisation of the Lake Maitland pit is a very significant step towards realising the true value and potential of the Wiluna project.

“These results have materially elevated, at a scoping study level, the potential ore to be mined and uranium oxide to be produced at Lake Maitland,” Richard Homsany said.

“Toro is now very well positioned to continue enhancing value at Lake Maitland over the coming months.”

“We look forward to using the pit optimisation outcomes to advance the engineer’s evaluation of the capital cost of a stand-alone Lake Maitland uranium-vanadium operation,” the executive chairman concluded.

A mining schedule, which will be developed from the pit optimisation outcomes, will now be used to estimate the capital cost of a stand-alone Lake Maitland uranium-vanadium operation at a scoping level of accuracy.

Toro Energy last traded at 2 cents on May 3.

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