Cost reductions secured for UK’s first rare earth processing facility
Pensana Plc the developer behind the UK’s first rare earth processing facility at Saltend in the Humber says the capex cost of the project have dropped by almost £4m.
The company secured £181m bond funding in August for its first UK project has said that the reduction in costs are a significant achievement “especially given the inflationary pressures and supply chain constraints affecting projects globally”.
The costs for the site are now expected to be c. £145m compared to the prediction in December of £149m.
Pensana chairman, Paul Atherley described the reduction in capital and operating costs as an achievement by the technical team led by CEO Tim George.
He added: “The lower capital and strong operating margins will make the project attractive to our financiers and are expected to lower the overall cost of finance.”
Looking ahead the developer also updated the market that it was targeting commissioning of the site for late next year.
Atherley noted that the business was having “very positive discussions with some of the world’s major automotive and wind turbine manufacturers, who recognise the strength of Pensana’s model and the security of supply we can provide for these essential industries.
“Pensana is excellently positioned to bring high value manufacturing back to the UK and be a first mover in meeting this burgeoning demand for critical magnet metals.”
As a result of the positive conversations and the agreeing of a Memorandum of Understanding with a “key Asian trading house for 50% of Saltend’s production”, the developer added that it expects annual revenues from both the Humber site and a site in Angola to increase by almost £44m.
