Close spaced drilling at the Wiluna Project has delivered:

  • Continuous high grade mineralisation at greater than 1000ppm U3O8 identified in three of the four Wiluna deposits;
  • Mining operability of all deposits and confidence in the resource and geological model confirmed;
  • Combined with positive disequilibrium results, further resource evaluation to be undertaken.

Toro Energy Limited's (ASX:TOE) 2014 close spaced drilling campaign at the Centipede, Millipede, Lake Maitland and Lake Way deposits has revealed continuous mineralization within the deposits above the Company's previously modelled expectations.

Combined with recent announcements of high grade intersections in July and positive disequilibrium in September 2014, these continuous mineralisation results provide a significant platform for further resource development work.  

In three of the four deposits zones of continuous mineralisation with consistent grades of over 1,000 ppm U3O8, mostly one to two metres thick were found (see Figures 1-4). This is the key characteristic needed to confirm mining operability, including the ability to deliver the proposed high grade operating strategy in the Project economic model.

These results continue to strongly support the amenability of the deposits to surface mining and enhance the confidence in the resource and geological model.

An area 100 m long and 100 m wide was selected on each of the four deposits for 5 x 5 m close spaced drilling, to enable Toro to study the actual distribution of mineralisation to a detail and scale equivalent to individual mining blocks.  This year's campaign was the largest undertaken since consolidation of the six deposits that make up the Wiluna Project.  A total of 1,639 holes were drilled for 16,375 m in the first four of the six Wiluna deposits, of which 71 holes for 644 m were sonic core, the remaining being aircore. A small proportion of the drilling was for the purpose of geotechnical studies related to pit wall design and investigations of the run-of-mine pad and processing plant foundations.

"Drilling campaigns undertaken in both 2013 and 2014 have now confirmed the amenability of the deposits to surface mining at Wiluna" Toro Managing Director Dr Vanessa Guthrie said today.

"We have significantly enhanced our geological data and understanding of the uranium mineralization to enable Toro to revise our resources initially and move towards a reserve assessment for the Wiluna Project when the definitive feasibility study is completed".

"Following the recent announcement of positive disequilibrium results from the 2013 drilling campaign, Toro has commenced an assessment of the ratio of geochemical assay U3O8 v gamma derived eU3O8 values from the 2014 drilling campaign. This involves a thorough review of all Project data to determine the extent of disequilibrium and its relevance to the entire regional resource. This work is expected to be completed during the fourth quarter of 2014."

MEDIA CONTACT:

Vanessa Guthrie, Toro Energy - 08 9214 2100

Kevin Skinner, Field Public Relations - 08 8234 9555 / 0414 822 631

COMPETENT / QUALIFIED PERSONS' STATEMENTS The information presented here that relates to mining block model evaluations and reconciliations for the four 100 m x 100 m evaluation areas at Centipede, Millipede, Lake Way and Lake Maitland is based on information compiled by Dr Greg Shirtliff and Mr Sebastian Kneer of Toro Energy Limited and Mr Daniel Guibal of SRK Consulting (Australasia) Pty Ltd. The review of the mining operability for the 100 m x 100 m evaluation areas was conducted by independent mining engineers, Mr Grant Calderwood of GDC Services and Mr Carl Murray of SRK Consulting (Australasia) Pty Ltd. Mr Guibal takes overall responsibility for the resource estimates of the individual evaluation areas and Dr Shirtliff takes responsibility for the integrity of the data supplied for the estimations. Dr Shirtliff and Mr Murray are Members of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM), Mr Guibal is a Fellow of the AusIMM and Mr Kneer is a Member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists (AIG) and they have sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity they are undertaking to qualify as Competent Persons as defined in the 2012 Edition of the 'Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (JORC Code 2012)'. The Competent Persons consent to the inclusion in this release of the matters based on the information in the form and context in which it appears. It is important to note that there has been no material change to the resources of the Wiluna Project since the last reporting of the Wiluna Project's resources on the 20th November 2013. As such the competent/qualified persons statement for stated resources on the Wiluna Project remains as follows: The information presented here that relates to Mineral Resources of the Centipede, Millipede, Lake Way, Lake Maitland, Dawson Hinkler and Nowthanna deposits is based on information compiled by Dr Greg Shirtliff of Toro Energy Limited (with the aid of Mega Uranium Limited geologists Mr Stewart Parker and Mr Robin Cox in the case of Lake Maitland) and Mr Robin Simpson and Mr Daniel Guibal of SRK Consulting (Australasia) Pty Ltd. Mr Guibal takes overall responsibility for the Resource Estimate, and Dr Shirtliff takes responsibility for the integrity of the data supplied for the estimation. Dr Shirtliff is a Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM), Mr Guibal is a Fellow of the AusIMM and Mr Simpson is a Member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists (AIG) and they have sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity they are undertaking to qualify as Competent Persons as defined in the 2012 Edition of the 'Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (JORC Code 2012)'. The Competent Persons consent to the inclusion in this release of the matters based on the information in the form and context in which it appears.Click here to download associated documents
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