Toro EnErgy...); the approved project, cover-ing only the Lake Way and Centipede deposits, contains approximately 26Mlbs. Toro plans to mine these deposits over 10-14 years, producing

Toro EnErgywww.toroenergy.com.au

2 URANIUM RENAISSANCE � Toro Energy

Toro EnErgyWestern Australia’s uranium unlocked02

3JULY 2013 � The International Resource Journal

Toro EnErgyWestern Australia’s uranium unlocked

UrAnIUM rEnAISSAnCE


“The uranium is moderate grade but it’s very shallow, easily won and ready for transport through the Australian government’s trade relations system into key customer countries such as China, Japan, and soon India and the United Arab Emirates” – Vanessa Guthrie, Managing Director


After many years of anticipation, Toro Energy finally has the green light to become Western Australia’s first ever uranium producer

ThE WIlUnA UrAnIUM Project in Western Australia received its

final approvals in April this year to a storm of media attention.

As the first new Australian uranium mine to receive both fed-

eral and state government approval since mid-2009, it was big

news and a well-earned reward for its developers, Toro Energy

Limited (ASX: TOE).


Toro began the approvals process for the

Wiluna Project in 2009, proceeding through

three and a half years of “patience, persistence

and rigorous science,” says Managing Director

Vanessa Guthrie. She joined the company in

2011 and became Managing Director in February

2013, so, although she missed the project’s ini-

tial consultation periods and assessments, she

was fully in the driving seat by the time the green

light appeared.

Unsurprisingly, Guthrie says her first few

months as director were “intense” and the ap-

proval of Wiluna “exciting” as the achievement of

what the company had been working towards for

several years.

“We were excited, overjoyed even, to know that

we had arrived and that we had a project well posi-

tioned to deliver into the market,” she says.

Journey to developmentThe three and a half years Toro waited to receive

approvals is but one small portion of the many

years the Wiluna uranium deposits were known but

undeveloped, due to either government prohibition

or being uneconomic to mine with contemporane-

ous technology. The two main uranium deposits

at Wiluna, called Centipede and Lake Way, were

discovered in the 1970s but, because they were

hosted in calcrete rock, would have taken “too

much effort to process,” explains Guthrie.

Two changes from the mid-2000s made de-

velopment possible. The first was the commercial

demonstration of an alkaline-based method of

extracting uranium, as an alternative to the more

commonly used acid leach method.

Alkaline leach was first used by Paladin En-

ergy Ltd (ASX: PDN) at its Langer Heinrich Mine

in Namibia, southern Africa. The technology was

effectively demonstrated on a commercial scale

at around the same time that Toro acquired Nova

Energy Limited and its Wiluna Project, in 2007.

“The commercialisation of the alkaline system

was the game changer,” says Guthrie.

“When we tested acid leach for the Wiluna re-

sources, we found that the calcrete-hosted deposits

consumed too much acid for it to be an economi-

cally viable method of extraction. However, the al-

kaline system worked with the calcrete rather than

against it. We were very confident when acquiring

Nova that we’d be able to develop Wiluna through

to production in an economic way.”

The second step was the election of a Co-

alition government in Western Australia and its

decision to lift the state’s ban on uranium min-

ing, in 2008. Toro was then free to begin the

approval process for Wiluna, which concluded in

April 2013.


The Wiluna ProjectOverall, the Wiluna regional resource contains

approximately 54 million pounds (Mlb) of ura-

nium oxide (U3O8); the approved project, cover-

ing only the Lake Way and Centipede deposits,

contains approximately 26Mlbs. Toro plans to

mine these deposits over 10-14 years, producing

1.7Mlb U3O8) per annum at a cost of AU$41/lb.

The average head grade is 716 parts per million

(ppm) and the capital cost AU$269 million.

“[The uranium] is moderate grade but it’s

very shallow, easily won and ready for transport

through the Australian government’s trade rela-

tions system into key customer countries such

as China, Japan, and soon India and the United

Arab Emirates,” explains Guthrie.

“It is economic at prices we’ve seen in the

past and at the forward uranium price, which all

the current market forecasts put at more than

$70/lb in the second half of this decade.”

She says the project’s greatest advantage

is its location in Australia: a politically stable

country with a reputation as a Tier 1 supplier.

The importance of security of supply becomes

particularly apparent, she adds, in light of recent

terrorist attacks and labour unrest at mines in

other countries. In terms of infrastructure, the

project has gas, water, road and air transport,

Crushing & Grinding Specialists

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Prediction of Grinding Efficiency

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and a local community within 30km, with whom

Toro is currently negotiating a mining agreement.

“We have a great relationship with the local

aboriginal people,” says Guthrie. “They have na-

tive title claims over the area in which our de-

posits occur and we’ve been in consultation with

them for four years. They had threshold issues

that we needed to manage, including heritage

and cultural values; environmental management;

land disturbance; and radiation exposure. We

passed through these last year and they signed a

negotiation protocol to say that they were happy

we had addressed their concerns and to proceed

to negotiate a commercial arrangement.”

Toro plans to provide a commercial arrange-

ment that ensures local people employment

opportunities, either with the mine or with con-

tractors. “We certainly want to promote local

businesses, and indigenous-owned businesses

in particular,” Guthrie continues. “We also have

community development funds we would like to

set aside for aspects of the community that they

prioritise, which generally relates to education

and health outcomes.”

The Theseus ProspectIn 2009, Toro’s geologists discovered a uranium

deposit near Lake Mackay in a region called the

VANESSA GUTHrIE, MANAGING DIrECTOr


Great Sandy Desert, on the Western Australia/

Northern Territory border. This is a completely

new uranium province, over which Toro owns

100% of 3,500km2 worth of exploration licences.

Toro’s discovery became the Theseus Prospect,

which is now an advanced exploration prospect

with a Maiden resource of 7Mlb U3O8). The

exploration target is 20-40Mt at approximately

400-500 parts per million U3O8), for 10,000-

20,000t (or 22-44Mlbs) U3O8).

“It’s a sandstone-hosted deposit at depth that

lends itself to solution mining,” says Guthrie. “This

means we don’t have to dig it up, but instead build

a well field over it that will pump in a very weak

acid. This dissolves the uranium into a solution,

which is then pumped back above ground again so

the uranium can be processed out. It’s a very low-

level land-disturbance system.”

Guthrie says the most exciting thing about

the Theseus Prospect is its “outstanding” inter-

sections of more than 1% uranium. “Our plan

is to go back in and drill out further to improve

the resource knowledge, but also to look more

extensively at the large province. We’re excited

because it’s got lots of prospectivity.”

Much more to comeToro’s first priority this year will be securing

project financing for Wiluna, to which end it is

has been talking to potential strategic partners

in Japan, Korea and China. The company aims to

commit to a joint venture partner by the end of

2013, in order to begin construction in 2014 and

make its first sales by the end of 2015.

Besides Theseus, Toro has further early-

stage exploration tenements in Australia’s North-

ern Territory, as well as exploration licences

within Namibia. Having achieved its initial goal

of developing a uranium project in a secure and

reliable jurisdiction, the company is now ready

to deliver uranium to the market when the price

picks up, and looking to the future.

“We aspire to be a mid-tier uranium com-

pany with a portfolio of production, exploration

and early development projects,” says Guthrie.

“We currently have a strong focus in Australia

and on Australian assets, but we see ourselves

as a global player in terms of the uranium

market and would like to grow from where we

are to become a supplier with a reputation for

being reliable and a company that does what it

says it’s going to do.”

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AS SEEn In ThE JUly 2013 ISSUE oF ThE InTErnATIonAl rESoUrCE JoUrnAl

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Documents

Toro EnErgy...); the approved project, cover-ing only the Lake Way and Centipede deposits, contains approximately 26Mlbs. Toro plans to mine these deposits over 10-14 years, producing