Humber selected for rare earth processing site

Saltend Chemicals Park, Humber, has been selected as the proposed site for Pensana Rare Earths’ UK processing facility.

Once running, the processing facility will 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.

Pensana Rare Earths plans to develop the Longonjo mine in Angola in the first quarter of next year and bring it online as the first major rare earth mine in over a decade. The company says that importing mixed rare earth sulphates from Longonjo and processing them into separated magnet metal oxides in the UK, means for the first time customers can purchase these critical raw materials with confidence that they have been sourced and processed sustainably.

Wood Group and the company are working closely with site owners, the px Group, to finalise the scoping study of the proposed facility.