NYSE America-listed Uranium Energy Corp (UEC) has selected consultants for planned development work at the Roughrider uranium project, formerly owned by Rio Tinto.

The company appointed SLR Consulting and Wood (Canada) to conduct an S-K 1300 initial assessment economic study (IAES) for the project, located in the eastern Athabasca basin of northern Saskatchewan near Orano’s McClean Lake mill.

SLR will focus on the capital and operation costs, construction and production schedule of the project through identified options and opportunities, whereas Wood will design a uranium processing facility to compare it against potential UEC toll mill options with third parties.

In addition, Canada North Environmental Services (CanNorth) has been selected to conduct environmental baseline work for the project.

Previously, CanNorth was retained by Rio Tinto to conduct comprehensive environmental and heritage baseline investigations to assess the environmental impact of the project, as well as to prepare for future licensing and regulatory requirements.

UEC said that the planned development work at Roughrider would benefit from the prior work of Rio Tinto, including a thorough technical, community engagement and an environmental assessment and review process, albeit no longer current, with the Saskatchewan Environment Ministry.

"Prior owners of Roughrider, Hathor and Rio Tinto, did not have the benefit of the regional scale and portfolio that UEC has created by acquiring UEX and the exciting growth-oriented and resource-stage projects in Christie Lake, Horseshoe Raven and Hidden Bay. This allows us to evaluate and explore both the potential at Roughrider in addition to regional synergies for a hub-and-spoke model. As a result, UEC will be evaluating all uranium processing options, along with a build versus potential toll processing options given the close proximity to two existing mills,” said UEC president and CEO Amir Adnani.

James Hatley, VP production, Canada, added that UEC had several operational configurations to consider during this project assessment stage.

In addition to the S-K 1300 IAES and environmental studies, the exploration team is planning further resource delineation to upgrade the mineral resources, complete geotechnical drilling and brownfield exploration of existing trends.

In parallel with the drill programme, the team will establish a site presence and conduct additional community engagement.

“UEC is assessing the historical work completed at Roughrider by Rio Tinto which substantially reduces our development timeline and costs."

Roughrider has total project resources of 27.8-million pounds of U₃O₈ in 389 000 t grading 3.25% U₃O₈ in the indicated category and 36-million pounds U₃O₈ in 359 000 t grading 4.55% U₃O₈ in the inferred category.