Multi-million pound Government backing for rare earth refinery

Rare earth exploration and development company, Pensana, says the Government has offered up to £4m towards the funding required to build a rare earth oxide separation facility in the Humber Freeport at Saltend.

The Saltend project will deliver 450 jobs during construction and 150 jobs in operation with a significant opportunity for further expansion.

Pensana is developing the facility to establish an independent, sustainable rare earth supply chain with mid-stream processing to produce magnet metal in the UK.

The offer of the Government grant follows an application submitted by the business to the Automotive Transformation Fund.

The money is conditional upon Pensana providing clearance from the relevant authority monitoring state subsidies and a funding, activities and deliverables plan – both of which are expected to be provided in the coming weeks.

Company chairman, Paul Atherley, said: “The successful development of the US$250m/£206m 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).

“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.

“Without a secure magnet metal supply chain this is under threat.”