Britain to start processing rare earth metals in Angola

The new joint venture will pose a challenge to China (supply of rare earths), which currently accounts for almost all of Europe's demand for this precious commodity.

A British company will soon start processing rare earth metals from Angola. Currently, 98 per cent of Europe's strategic commodities of rare earths are dependent on China.

Paul Ashley (Paul Atherley), chairman of Pensana, said the processing facility at Saltend in central England "has the potential to be the first large separation facility to be built in more than a decade-one of only three major producers outside China".

He added that the move came at a "critical moment when most of Europe's rare earth magnets depend on China" and that rare earths are crucial for electric cars, wind turbines and other strategic industries.

Saltend will initially seek to obtain high-purity raw materials from the company's Longonjo mine in Angola in order to create a high-value processing centre in the UK.

According to the Chinese Portuguese language Bulletin, Pensana is seeking to establish a world-class, independent and sustainable supply chain of rare earth metals.

This involves plans to build the world's first sustainable "plug and play" rare earth separation facility Saltend Chemicals in Humber River Park, England, at a cost of US $125 million, targeting the production of 12,500 tons of rare earth oxides, including 4500 tons of magnet metal rare earth oxides, which accounts for about 5 per cent of projected world demand in 2025.

Pensana added that Saltend "has the potential to become one of the largest rare earth processing centers in the world, importing globally procured raw materials in a sustainable manner and processing them into valuable oxides and metal products."

The global market for rare earths is expected to grow fivefold by 2030, driven by demand from industries such as electric vehicles and offshore wind energy.

Pensana said this provided "strong economic support for investment".

With the approval of the Saltend and Longonjo projects, we hope to start the development of these two projects later this year.