Integration of Vanadium into Lake Maitland Uranium Resource Underway to Re-optimise Pit
Toro Energy Limited (ASX: TOE) (‘the Company’ or ‘Toro’) is pleased to announce that it has initiated the work of integrating the new Lake Maitland vanadium resource estimation into the recently updated Lake Maitland uranium resource block model. This work is being undertaken in preparation for an updated scoping study, which is estimated to be completed before the end of the year.
Vanadium resource integration is the start of preparations for a new scoping study update for a stand-alone uranium-vanadium mining and processing operation at Toro’s Lake Maitland Deposit.New scoping study update will include a re-optimisation of the proposed Lake Maitland mining pit using the new Lake Maitland resource estimation results to assess an increase in mining volume and therefore potential production.The new stand-alone Lake Maitland operation scoping study update is expected to be finalised before the end of the year.Future planned project optimisation work and the pilot plant programme will evaluate further economic improvements driven by Lake Maitland’s close proximity to Toro’s 100% owned Centipede-Millipede & Lake Way uranium deposits by potentially integrating additional resources from these two deposits.Strong improved financial outcomes from the recently updated Lake Maitland Scoping Study include:Pre-tax NPV8 of A$832.8M (+37% increase of A$223.20M)Excellent 48% IRR (+7% increase)Total EBITDA of $2,303.3M (+30% increase of A$534.4M)Total undiscounted cash flow of A$1,903.3M pre-tax – average >$2M per week (+36% increase of A$507.3M)Short payback period of 2.1 yearsLow C1 operating cost of US$17.28/lb U3O8 in years 1 to 7 when high grade uranium resource is being processedStrong life of mine C1 operating cost of only US$24.78/lb U3O8Low AISC cost of US$22.58/lb U3O8 in years 1 to 7 when high grade uranium resource is being processedStrong life of mine AISC cost of only US$30.55/lb U3O8 Modest total CAPEX of US$149M plus 20% for contingency and 15% for EPCM over a 17.5 year mine life producing a total of 22.8Mlbs U3O8 and 11.9 Mlbs V2O5.
Management Commentary
Commenting on this development, Toro’s Executive Chairman, Richard Homsany, said:
“Toro continues to advance the Wiluna Uranium Project through several optimisation and technical workstreams. The inclusion of the updated vanadium resource into the existing Lake Maitland resource is a key update ahead of reporting our new scoping study for the project later this year.
Importantly, the new scoping study will include a pit re-optimisation of the recently updated uranium resource block model, with the vanadium resource integrated within it, to assess a change to mining volume and therefore potential production. A favourable outcome on this alone could significantly increase the value of the Wiluna Uranium Project. This will more accurately represent the potential mining volumes, production figures and economic/financial outcomes for the proposed stand-alone Lake Maitland mining and processing operation.
Adding further weight to the global uranium conversation, global companies including Microsoft, Google and Amazon have recently committed to source nuclear energy to power their AI and data centres whilst expressly recognising that nuclear energy has a track record of providing a reliable source of safe carbon-free energy globally.
Against this backdrop and driven by the global push towards ‘net zero’, it is becoming increasingly clear that any regulatory or policy stance against exporting uranium to countries that need nuclear energy to grow their economies and support their de-carbonisation agendas, requires immediate re-evaluation.
As we head towards a busy and important phase for the business, the Board is confident that Toro has the necessary funding to deliver on several key, near term milestones that we believe will unlock further value for shareholders.”
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