Western Australia Readies to Enter Uranium Mining Market

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Perth, Australia)--Within the next two years, Western Australia expects to mine and export uranium. Toro Energy Limited (ASX:TOE) (Norwood, South Australia) received the federal government's approval of the environmental application for the Wiluna uranium project, which is located approximately 30 kilometres south of Wiluna, after a lengthy application process. Production is expected to begin before the end of 2015.

Before the $269 million project can continue, mining agreements have to be acquired with respect to native title claimants. "We are looking to finalize the joint venture partner funding, and we have some final engineering studies to do and mining agreements to complete, negotiating with traditional owners, so that we can go to a board final approval decision at the end of this year," said Vanessa Guthrie, the managing director of Toro.

The milestone that the company has reached allows for potential joint venture partners to be engaged in an effort to secure funding for the project. These include countries such as Japan, India, China and South Korea.

This project will be the sixth of its kind in Australia and the first in the state. Mining in Western Australia historically has had a strong focus on mineral deposits. Examples include gold and silver deposits around the Kalgoorlie region and iron ore in the Pilbara region. Also, large reservoirs of natural gas have been found and processed offshore Western Australia.

Australia is among the world's top exporters of uranium. Application of the dense metal ranges from household products, such as smoke detectors, televisions and computers, to the wider-known use of nuclear power and electricity. Medical and military uses are also very common.

Since Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster in March 2011, the world has witnessed the intensity of hazards associated with uranium applications, and much caution has greeted any new developments involving the dense metal.

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