Pensana Rare Earths has announced the appointment of Wood Group to undertake a study into establishing an integrated rare earth processing facility in the UK, with an eye to setting up the world's first sustainable magnet metal supply chain.
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Pensana developed the design of the Longonjo rare earths project in Angola to include the production of a mixed rare earth carbonate.
As a result of the recent resource upscaling, Longonjo is now one of the world's largest known resources for rare earths.
Rare earths are a group of minerals, including neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr) oxide, used in magnets helping power a range of products from smartphones to wind turbines to electric car batteries.
With backing from the Angolan government and financed by the country's Sovereign Wealth Fund, the project is looking set to become the first producing major rare-earth mine in more than a decade, coming at a time when demand for these critical metals is burgeoning.
Now, the company says it has a unique opportunity to look at the potential of making one further step downstream and creating additional value through the establishment of a rare earth oxide production facility in the UK.
“By linking a mid-stream magnet metal supply with downstream magnet manufacturing capacity there is the potential to create a sustainable magnet metal supply chain at a time of increasing concern over the provenance of these critical metals for the electric vehicle (EV) and offshore wind turbine industries,” the company said in a statement.
"To give a sense of scale, the Longonjo project could, together with the UK processing facility, produce enough rare earth oxide to supply the wind turbines at Dogger Bank, projected to be the world’s biggest wind farm, for the next 20 years."
Each turbine at Dogger Bank required 7 tonnes of permanent magnets, Pensana said.
Last week, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a £160 million (€176.7million) investment in order to quadruple the country's offshore wind capacity to 40 GW by 2030, in order to aid a "green recovery" from the pandemic.
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