Uranium development and exploration company Toro Energy on Monday announced the planned demerger of noncore nickel, gold and base metals projects in Western Australia.

The demerger announcement follows a review of its assets in light of the strong results delivered from the Lake Maitland scoping study and the implications for its broader flagship Wiluna uranium project, located in the northern goldfields of Western Australia.

Given Toro’s focus on the development of the Wiluna project, the company believes the value of its nickel, gold and base metal exploration assets is not currently reflected in its share price.

The board believes these assets should be in a separately listed vehicle for a sharper focus on their development.

Meanwhile, the company is updating the Lake Maitland scoping study, first completed in 2022, using the latest commodity pricing.  The study has already produced attractive financial metrics demonstrating a standalone project, highlighted by a pretax net present value (NPV) of A$610-million and a 41% internal rate of return, based on a $70/lb uranium price.

There is also significant potential upside in combining the other deposits – Lake Way, Millipede and Centipede – with Lake Maitland.

“With the strong financial metrics highlighted by the Lake Maitland uranium scoping study, and the expected transformational increase in NPV following a soon-to-be-completed refresh, we believe it is the right time to consider demerging our noncore projects to allow Toro to refresh solely on expediting the development of our globally significant uranium assets,” said executive chairperson Richard Homsany.

The assets being demerged and listed separately include the Dusty nickel project, 50 km to the east of the town of Wiluna, close to BHP’s Mt Keith nickel project.

The Yandal gold and base metals project is 20 km from the Bronzewing gold mine. It is billed as a unique exploration opportunity, comprising 243 km² of the mature world-class gold district, the Yandal greenstone belt.

Toro will also assess its exploration assets and consider whether all of these should form part of the demerger.