Plans submitted for £91m rare earth processing plant

Plans have been submitted to build the UK’s first rare earth processing facility on a Humber site, following the announcement last year that a site had been selected.

Exploration and development company Pensana Rare Earths intends to develop the oxide separation facility at Hull’s Saltend Chemicals Park to create the world’s first fully sustainable magnet metal supply chain.

It is being designed by UK engineering consultants Wood Group.

If approved, the $125m/£91.2m processing plant would become one of only two major producers outside China of rare earth oxides used in the manufacture of powerful permanent magnets, critical to the offshore wind and electric vehicle industries.

Once it is in operation it is expected to create about 100 direct jobs. It will process neodymium and praseodymium from a planned mine in Angola.

Pensana says it intends to attract manufacturers of turbines and cars by providing an alternative to Chinese suppliers of rare earths and their oxides.

The company’s chairman, Paul Atherley, said he believed Pensana could capture five to seven per cent of the market in wind turbines before moving into vehicles.

Saltend Chemicals Park is a cluster of chemical and renewable energy businesses including BP Petrochemicals, Ineos, Nippon Gohsei and Air Products, strategically located on the Humber estuary.

The 370-acre site, which is managed by the px Group, has had £500m worth of investment over recent years.

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