Toro Energy Limited (ASX:TOE) Pilot Plant Testing Confirms Proposed Extraction Process for Wiluna Uranium Project

Perth, Sep 26, 2011 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Toro Energy Limited (ASX:TOE) has completed a program of pilot plant processing test work as part of its continuing assessment of the Wiluna uranium project in Western Australia.

The integrated pilot plant campaign, consisting of two, separate 10-day continuous runs totalling approximately 480 hours of operation, was completed during August and September 2011. A total of 12,811 kg (run 1 = 6,219kg and run 2 =6,529kg) of material was tested through the two campaigns, with two separate samples of calcrete and clay dominant ores being tested individually to evaluate performance in the selected processing circuit.

The bulk ore grade material was extracted from the Centipede deposit during Toro's trial mining and resource evaluation pit in August 2010.

Results Confirm Process

The results achieved during the tests generally support the original projected parameters and results. The selected flow sheet successfully processed both ore types with minimal adjustment to the pilot plant circuit.

Importantly, saline groundwater from Wiluna project's Centipede deposit was successfully used as wash water and flocculent make-up water, significantly reducing the need for Toro to source high quality, low salinity water. Furthermore, chloride concentration build-up is markedly less than previously predicted which will enable common materials of construction to be used and result in capital cost savings.

An updated comparison of results obtained from the 2009 Optimisation Study, 2011 bench scale testwork and 2011 Pilot Plant can be found in Appendix 1 (see link at the bottom of the release).

These quantitative outcomes confirm the viability of the proposed process flow sheets - a key step in the advancement of the Wiluna uranium project - and demonstrate overall uranium recovery in the range of 83%-86%. Very pleasing to Toro was the quality of the sodium diurinate (SDU) product and the fact that further dissolved vanadium rejection was achieved through adsorption onto tailing solids. Toro expects this to improve the final product specification and minimise any potential penalties due to the presence of deleterious elements.

Very importantly no significant issues have been identified during the pilot plant process runs although further optimisation work has been identified that may improve the process further.

Further Optimisation

Additional testwork is underway to provide further technical information for use during the Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) for Wiluna. The SDU produced during the pilot plant campaigns will be used to develop and optimise the final uranium product (UO4) production circuit, and tailings samples generated during steady state operations have been collected for further Tailings Storage Facility (TSF) testwork. Further tests will also include SDU re-dissolution and uranium precipitation with hydrogen peroxide to further improve uranium product quality.

Toro's Managing Director, Greg Hall said today. "The results of the pilot plant testwork are very pleasing, and demonstrate that the agitated alkaline leach circuit is very viable for the Wiluna Uranium Project ore. The results provide a solid basis for our Definitive Feasibility Study and help improve our understanding of the engineering that will be required to deliver the Wiluna Project. Further testwork will now help us to refine the processing circuit and improve our technical knowledge," he said.

For the complete Toro announcement including key quantitative and technical outcomes of the pilot plant work include:
http://media.abnnewswire.net/media/en/docs/ASX-TOE-184636.pdf

Contact

Greg Hall Toro Energy Limited Tel: +61-8-8132-5600 Email: info@toroenergy.com.au http://www.toroenergy.com.au