Rare earth refinery ‘of strategic importance’ for UK

Rare earth exploration and development company, Pensana, says its chairman Paul Atherley met Nusrat Ghani, Minister of State at the Department for Business and Trade and Cabinet Office, to discuss potential UK and US Government support for its Saltend project.

Pensana’s Saltend refinery, near Hull, will be the first major rare earth separation facility to be built in over a decade.

Once complete it will establish an independent magnet metal supply chain for the UK and beyond. It will process neodymium and praseodymium from a planned mine in Longonjo, Angola.

The business says its meeting with Ghani highlighted the successful development of the $250m/£205m Saltend project would be an important step in supporting the UK automotive supply chain, which employs over 780,000 people, as it transitions to electric vehicles (EVs).

It notes that by 2030 the UK is expected to have transitioned from being a major European producer of internal combustion engines to be a world leader in the manufacture of electric drive units (EDUs), producing three million EDUs annually, with a large proportion destined for export.

Pensana warns that without a secure magnet metal supply chain, this is under threat.

It adds: “The Saltend project will deliver 450 jobs during construction and 150 high value jobs in operation with a significant opportunity for further expansion.

“The facility is specifically designed to be flexible allowing it to process feedstock from the Longonjo project in Angola along with feedstock from other different rare earth mining projects.

“The Minister assured us the project was of strategic importance for the UK and that support for the project would be raised during talks with Under Secretary Jose Fernandez during the Mineral Security Partnership discussions held during the London Metal Exchange (LME) Week.”

Pensana was previously nominated by the UK Government as a partner under the recently announced Minerals Security Partnership (MSP) between the US and its international allies.

The goal of the MSP is to accelerate investment from the private sector and key government partners for strategic mining, processing, and recycling opportunities focused particularly on priority critical minerals needed for core technologies such as electric vehicles and clean technologies.