Toro Energy's Vanessa Guthrie Talks Australian Uranium Market and Wiluna Project

When it comes to uranium, Australia is one of the top-producing countries. With just three uranium mines currently in operation, including BHP Billiton’s (ASX:BHP,NYSE:BHP,LSE:BLT) Olympic Dam, it’s impressive that the country is ranked third in the world in terms of uranium output. 
But don’t let the scant number of producing uranium mines deter you. Australia has big plans when it comes to uranium mining, and several companies are advancing projects there.
“Australia has been exporting uranium for over 30 years from dominantly three mines — Olympic Dam, Ranger and Beverley — to produce some 10 percent of world supply today,” Toro Energy (ASX:TOE) Managing Director Vanessa Guthrie told Investing News Network.
“More importantly, Australia is endowed with over 30 percent of the world’s uranium resources, and is poised to take advantage of current growth in Asian energy demand. To do this, Australia must open new uranium mines to replace the maturing mines. The industry is well positioned to meet this challenge, with four new projects in the development pipeline.”

One of those projects is Toro’s Wiluna project in Western Australia. Toro recently increased the resource estimate for Wiluna to 84 million pounds of uranium with a high-grade component of 40 million pounds of uranium. As Guthrie noted, that “demonstrate[s] that the Wiluna project has more to give when it comes to the resource quality than had been previously anticipated.”
Furthermore, the new resource “gives [Toro] the opportunity to develop a new mining plan to take advantage of the continuous high-grade lenses.” Guthrie added that the company expects the high-grade component to further improve the project’s economics.
Given the resource update, Guthrie explained that Toro will be “rerunning the mining schedule” in order to incorporate the improvements it outlines. From there, the company “will look into the positive impact the grades can have on the processing circuit through optimization studies.”

Project development in sluggish uranium market

As those watching the uranium market know, the space is in a period of significant and sustained depression. And though all the fundamentals indicate that prices should be making their way up the charts, the market has yet to react positively.
Still, as Guthrie noted, “the forecast demand for uranium to meet the committed growth in nuclear power generation capacity — particularly in Asia — will create a supply shortfall that will emerge in the market from 2018 onwards.”
With a shortfall in supply imminent, “there is a positive outlook for new mines to bring new production to market towards the end of this decade,” making it a prime time to develop a project that will be able to meet the rise in demand when the time comes.

What can investors expect from Toro in 2016?

Toro Energy has a lot of work to do if it wants to make good on its aspirations to be Australia’s next uranium producer.
When asked what investors can expect from the company moving forward, Guthrie said that to start, the company will “continu[e] to secure [its] environmental permits for the Millipede and Lake Maitland deposits to extend those permits [it] already [has] for the mine.”
Toro is also in the midst of “finalizing an agreement with the local Aboriginal people,” and is “pursuing optimization studies in the process circuit to take advantage of the new grade resource.” On top of the operational plans, Guthrie also highlighted that Toro continues “to focus on [its] potential customer countries in Asia to secure a strategic partner to develop the project.”
 
Securities Disclosure: I, Vivien Diniz, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Editorial Disclosure: Toro Energy is a client of the Investing News Network. This interview is not paid-for content.