PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The Western Australian Minister for Environment has amended certain conditions contained in the Environmental Protection Authority's (EPA's) report for the extension of Toro Energy's Wiluna uranium project, and has added a new condition.
The Minister’s response was to appeals lodged against the EPA’s report for the extension of the Wiluna project, which in September recommended the approval of the extension.
ASX-listed Toro said on Thursday that the new condition imposed by the Minister related to the design and operation of the tailings storage facility in a manner recommended by the Appeals Convenor.
To complete the assessment process for the Wiluna extension, there will now be a short process of consultation, which will involve determining the precise wording of the amended conditions and the final consultation with the relevant decision-making authorities to seek their agreement to the project being implemented, subject to the amended conditions.
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.