Toro, Energy Rise as West Australia Set to Allow Uranium Mines

By Jason Scott

Sept. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Toro Energy Ltd. and Energy & Minerals Australia Ltd. led gains in shares of Western Australian uranium explorers as the Liberal Party, which has indicated it will allow mining of the nuclear fuel in the state, won the right to govern.

Toro rose as much as 48 percent to 32 Australian cents in Sydney trading, the largest advance since March 2006. Energy & Minerals surged 28 percent to 57.5 cents, the most in a week. Uranex NL gained 28 percent to 30 cents, the biggest jump since April 2006.

The Liberals want to open the state, which accounts for more than a third of the nation's exports, to uranium miners such as Cameco Corp., the world's biggest producer, and BHP Billiton Ltd. Western Australia has as much as 10 percent of the world's known uranium reserves, worth about A$40 billion ($32 billion), according to an estimate from the federal government last year.

Perth-Based Energy & Minerals wants to mine uranium at its Mulga Rocks Deposits, 250 kilometers (155 miles) east-northeast of Kalgoorlie. Uranex, also based in the Western Australian capital, has deposits at Thatcher Soak, 130 kilometers northeast of Laverton.

The election result means Adelaide-based Toro will work on enhancing its Wiluna project, which includes the Lake Way and Centipede deposits east of Meekatharra, it said in a statement today.

``We can now focus on enhancing the resource, environmental, economics, health and technical analysis of Wiluna to ensure its project economics provide the right value for the Company's shareholders and for potential development,'' Toro Energy Managing Director Greg Hall said in the statement.

Liberal leader Colin Barnett will take over from Labor's Alan Carpenter as the state's new premier, ending a week of political gridlock after a Sept. 6 poll failed to produce a clear winner.

To contact the reporters on this story: Jason Scott in Perth at Jscott14@bloomberg.net;