ASX-listed uranium development and exploration company Toro Energy is advancing the design phase of its beneficiation and hydrometallurgical pilot plant at a facility in Perth, in line with plans to begin its operation in the second half of the year.
The pilot plant will test the entirety of the successful bench scale research completed by Toro to date at closer to production scale.
The pilot plant will also test all the components of the newly proposed processing circuit that were tested successfully on an individual basis, within a production flow stream for the first time.
Toro notes that the plant will be designed to go beyond the Lake Maitland stand-alone operation and assume an extended mining operation to the Lake Way and Centipede-Millipede deposits.
The pilot plant will be equipped to take at least 20 dry tonnes of potential ore through two campaigns of testing, both on the proposed beneficiation circuit and the proposed hydrometallurgical circuit.
“The pilot plant is an important step towards further demonstrating the potential scale and value of this asset, and developing it to production,” comments executive chairperson Richard Homsany.
He adds that the value of Wiluna, against the backdrop of a strengthening global uranium market, keeps growing.
“Toro remains committed to developing the asset so that it can be brought into production when government policy and uranium markets align.”