Australian company Toro Energy has announced the outcomes of a refreshed scoping study for the Lake Maitland deposit, at Wiluna in Western Australia, showcasing “impressive outcomes”.  

The study, which re-examines its 2022 predecessor amid improved uranium oxide (U₃O₈) prices, produced a 37% uplift in pretax net present value to A$832.8-million, with a 2.1-year payback period and strong free cashflow projects.

The study projects that Lake Maitland, at a uranium price of $85/lb and a vanadium price of $5.67/lb, will generate A$1.9-billion in pretax cash flow, averaging A$2-million a week.

The scoping study is based on a base case throughput rate of 1.95-million tonnes a year, a run-of-mine uranium grade of 519.8 parts per million (ppm) in the first seven years and C1 cash operating costs of $17.28/lb of U₃O₈ in the first seven years.

On average, Lake Maitland will produce 1.3-million pounds a year of uranium and 700 000 lb/y of vanadium.

“The board is delighted to report these improved scoping study results for the Lake Maitland deposit, which substantiate the quality and global significance of Toro’s uranium assets,” said executive chairperson Richard Homsany.

“Lake Maitland comprises a significant amount of the Wiluna uranium project’s resources, and these revised outcomes further demonstrate Lake Maitland’s stand-alone viability and transformational effect on the potential economics of the entire Wiluna uranium project,” he said.

Homsany added that project optimisation work streams were continuing and that the company was confident that further improvements were possible, particularly owing to Lake Maitland’s close proximity to the Centipede-Millipede and Lake Way deposits within Wiluna. Potential integration of additional resources from these deposits would likely increase the production at Lake Maitland.

A potential stand-alone Lake Maitland uranium (with vanadium by-product) operation was scoped for contemplation as a potential viable alternative to the already proposed greater Wiluna uranium project that had previously received state and federal environmental approval. In that project the Lake Maitland uranium deposit is one of three deposits whereby potential uranium ore is planned to be mined and trucked some distance north to a processing plant at the Centipede-Millipede deposit.