Name of the Project
Longonjo neodymium/praseodymium project.

Location
The project is located in Huambo, Angola – 4 km from a modern rail line leading directly into the Atlantic Port of Lobito.

Project Owner/s
Pensana Rare Earths holds an 84% interest in Longonjo through its 84% holding in Angola-registered company Ozango Minerais, which owns 100% of the mining licence.

The Angolan government holds a 10% interest and the company’s Angolan partners hold the remaining 6%.

Project Description
Longonjo is one of the biggest rare earths deposits in the world.

Longonjo has indicated and inferred mineral resources of 226-million tonnes grading 1.47% rare-earth oxides and 0.33% neodymium/praseodymium. A prefeasibility study (PFS) has indicated the viability of a long-life, low-cost openpit operation based on a weather-zone component of the Longonjo resource estimate.

The focus of the PFS is on the initial development of the highest-grade portion of the near-surface weathered-zone mineralisation, which is a subset of the total project mineral resource estimate.

The PFS envisages openpit mining and the two-phase development of a two-million tonne-a-year processing plant and associated infrastructure, producing on average 56 000 t/y of neodymium/praseodymium concentrate for export.

The openpit will be a free dig operation with a very low strip ratio. The processing plant will use flotation to produce a high-grade rare-earth concentrate. The project has a nine-year life-of-mine.

The investment has been designed to meet the Equator Principles and Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions under the Green House Gas Protocol.

Access to low-carbon power from the Luaca hydroelectric dam and local photovoltaic and storage facilities will allow for a very low carbon footprint, combined with closed-circuit zero discharge for process water and tailings, with full end-of-life rehabilitation.

Potential Job Creation
The project will provide training for about 370 jobs at the mine. Local businesses are being prepared to become service providers. A particular focus is on training young women for technical and engineering roles.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
In the base case scenario, the project has an internal rate of return of 101% with a payback of 13 months.

Capital Expenditure
Initial capital costs are estimated at $130.6-million.

Planned Start/End Date
The project can be put into production in less than 18 months.

Latest Developments
Pensana Rare Earths has successfully produced a mixed rare-earth carbonate (MREC) rich in neodymium and praseodymium from testwork that is under way at its Longonjo rare earth project.

Industry experts Wood Group and Nagrom have successfully developed a flowsheet to produce a particularly high-grade MREC with neodymium and praseodymium, comprising 33.5% of the total rare earths content.

MREC is a high-purity and high-value product, with a broad market and range of applications.

The resultant MREC from the testwork is higher in quality than the concentrate product contemplated in Pensana’s PFS and compares favourably with the main products being produced and sold in China.

The company continues with pilot plant work and metallurgical testwork to finalise the preferred processing route, as well as with providing data for engineering and production cost estimates for the project’s bankable feasibility study (BFS).

Pensana says a comprehensive update on the BFS will be provided towards the end of October. Two of the circuits will be required to run for longer to bring the testwork results up to the required reporting standards for the study, which will allow for the finalisation of the report in due course.

The BFS will report whether there is potential for the project to be brought online as the first major rare earths mine in more than a decade and to offer a sustainable supply of MREC amid growing concerns about the provenance of the rare earths supply chain.

The BFS will also be underpinned by the project’s updated mineral resource estimate published in September 2020.

The project contains 313-million tonnes at 1.43% total rare-earth oxides, including 0.32% neodymium and praseodymium for 4.4-million tonnes of total rare-earth oxides, including 990 000 t of measured, indicated and inferred neodymium and praseodymium resources.

With the recent resource upgrade and ongoing financial support of the Angola Sovereign Wealth Fund, the company is confident about its ability to rapidly develop the project.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
Paradigm Project Management (owner representative); CGWIC (financing, and engineering, procurement and construction works ); Wood Group (lead engineer, tailings storage facility, infrastructure, mining, process plant engineering, cost estimation, surface-water management); SRK Consulting (mineral resource estimate and model); HCV Africa (environmental- and social-impact assessment and baseline studies); Grupo Simples (environmental and social assessment, stakeholder engagement – Angola); AVM Advogadas (Angola legal); DLA Piper (Australia legal); Vic McLaglen (legal consultant); Auralia Metallurgy (metallurgical testwork facility – flotation); Bureau Veritas Minerals (metallurgical testwork – comminution); ALS Mineralogy (mineralogy testwork); Dr Wally Witt  (geological consultant); ARQ Consulting (geotechnical studies); HCV Africa (hydrology, borefield testing and modelling); Conrad Partners (transport and rare-earth concentrate market); and Nagrom Laboratories (sample assays).

Contact Details for Project Information
Pensana Rare Earths, contact@pensana.co.uk.