British Rare Earth Factory Plans to "Get Rid of Dependence on China"

The goal of British Pensana Rare Earth is to develop a rare earth material processing plant to create a sustainable magnet supply chain. Pensana said the company intends to build the plant in the Saltend Chemical Park in Yorkshire to meet the soaring demand for magnets in the offshore wind and electric vehicle industries and reduce its dependence on China.

Pensana stated that the project has been approved by the planning department and "depends on the final investment decision and the availability of funds.

The company claims to establish "the world's first sustainable supply chain for magnet metals." The company said: "In the next 5 years, electric vehicles are expected to drive the demand for magnet metal to increase by 350%. In the next 20 years, the demand for offshore wind power is expected to increase by 1500%."

The project will be realized by importing mixed rare earth sulfate from the Longonjo mine in Angola in southern Africa, which is planned to be developed in early 2021. Longonjo mine obtained a mining license in May 2020 and will use low-carbon energy provided by the nearby Luaca hydroelectric dam.

British Pensana said this will be the first large-scale rare earth mine in more than 10 years. The last one is the Mt Weld mine of the Australian company Lynas Corporation. Dysprosium, neodymium, and praseodymium are commonly used to make magnets for electric car batteries and wind turbines.

The price of neodymium mixtures has risen by nearly 50% in 2020, reaching US$65/kg, higher than the US$41/kg in the past 10 years. Magnet metal producer Medallion Resources said that by 2025, the price of NdPr may rise to $100 per kilogram.

Pensana said that in terms of output, its closest competitor is MP Materials, a US mining and refining company worth $1.5 billion. MP Materials owns and operates Mountain Pass mines and processing facilities in the United States. The US government provided the company with US$9.6 million in funding last month as part of the US$12.7 million in funding to support the three US producers to break the dominance of the China market.

This year, under the leadership of Donald Trump, the United States also signed an executive order to "declare a state of emergency for the mining industry aimed at "encouraging domestic production that is essential to military technology Rare earth minerals, while reducing the United States' dependence on China."

According to data from the industrial company TechMet, China controlled 90% of the supply of REEs and rare minerals in 2019. Paul Atherley, Chairman of Pensana Rare Earth, said: " It is clear that for British and European companies, importing raw materials from unsustainable sources has been It's no longer acceptable”.

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