Artist's impression of Saltend
London-listed Pensana has been offered a grant of up to £4-million by the UK Secretary of State for Business and Trade towards the funding required to build a rare earth oxide separation facility in the Humber Freeport at Saltend, in England.
The offer of grant, made under Section 7 of the Industrial Development Act, follows an application submitted by Pensana to the Automotive Transformation Fund, and is subject to terms set out in a grant funding agreement and conditional upon Pensana providing clearance from the relevant authority monitoring State subsidies and a funding, activities and deliverables plan, which are expected to be provided in the coming weeks.
“The successful development of the $250-million 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,” says Pensana chairperson Paul Atherley.
Pensana highlights that it is establishing an independent, sustainable rare earth supply chain with midstream processing to produce magnet metal in the UK.
The Saltend project will deliver 450 jobs during construction and 150 high-value jobs in operation, with a significant opportunity for further expansion.
It will produce about 12 500 t/y of rare earth products – of which 4 500 t/y will be neodymium and praseodymium oxide – from high-purity mixed rare earth sulphate produced at the company’s Longonjo mine, in Angola.