The Conversation (0)
Toro Energy Limited (ASX:TOE) has announced the commencement of drilling at the Wiso Project in the Northern Territory, a joint venture with AREVA Resources Australia. The campaign will comprise of up to 5,000 metres of mud-rotary drilling and is expected to take 2 months to complete.
The drilling campaign will comprise up to 5,000 metres of mud-rotary drilling with an absolute minimum of 2,000 metres and expected drill hole depths of between 50 and 300 metres. The program is expected to take two months to complete.
The exploration target is the prospective more recent sediments (65 million years old and younger) overlying the Wiso Basin in the Northern Territory. These sediments have the potential to contain significant amounts of sandstone hosted uranium mineralisation that will be amenable to the relatively benign and cost-effective In-Situ Leach (ISL) extraction method, similar to those found at Beverley or Four Mile in South Australia.
A large airborne electromagnetic (AEM) survey (Tempest system) undertaken by Toro Energy in 2012 and jointly funded by the Northern Territory Government shows that an extensive palaeochannel system may exist below cover that has previously shed sediments from uranium rich rocks of the Arunta Complex in the south into the basin (see Figure 2). The EM survey also shows that the possible palaeochannel system is still connected to those uranium rich rocks and so has an even greater potential to host uranium rich groundwater capable of depositing uranium in economic proportions ‘downstream’, given the right conditions. This palaeochannel system will be the main focus of AREVA’s exploration program.
Click here to read the Toro Energy Limited (ASX:TOE) press release