Name of the Project
Longonjo rare earths mine/refinery project.

Location
Longonjo municipality, Huambo province, Angola. 

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

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

Project Description
Pensana has successfully delineated a near-surface Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant reserve of 22-million tonnes grading 3.04% total rare earth oxides, containing 139 457 t of neodymium/praseodymium oxide and 3 689 t of dysprosium oxide and terbium oxide, making it one of the world's largest and highest-grade, undeveloped magnet metal rare-earth deposits, with a mine life exceeding 20 years.

The mine execution plan is based on a staged development of the mine and processing facilities. The Stage 1 design basis is 850 000 t/y run-of-mine throughput.

The Longonjo operation will mine near-surface, predominantly free-dig carbonatite material through an openpit operation, and extract, concentrate, calcine and chemically refine the material to produce a high-value mixed rare earth carbonate (MREC).

Initial production will be 20 000 t/y of a highly marketable clean MREC, including light rare earth elements and heavy rare-earth elements (HREEs). A proposed second-phase expansion will result in production increasing to 40 000 t/y of MREC from about Year 4, or about 2029, once initial operations have been established.

MREC product will be railed to the Port of Lobito for export. Pensana is separately optimising the process design of its previously engineered Saltend separation facility into modular processing trains, with the aim of deploying the engineering and intellectual property in the most operationally and commercially suitable location. The optimised downstream design is expected to include heavy rare earth separation and metal conversion capability.

Potential Job Creation
The project is expected to create 600 high-value jobs, of which more than 50% are expected to be allocated to young people.
Once in full production, the project will create an estimated 2 400 direct and indirect jobs.
The workforce is expected to increase towards a peak of about 750 personnel in 2026.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
Not stated.

Capital Expenditure
Pensana reported in June 2026 that about $36-million had been spent on direct mine and processing plant development costs, and that about $135-million of the total capital expenditure (capex) had been committed under the procurement schedule.

Planned Start/End Date
Main construction started in May 2025. Longonjo is expected to be commissioned in 2027, producing 20 000 t/y of MREC, with a planned expansion to 40 000 t/y once initial operations have been established. As of June 2026, main construction was about 22% complete. First MREC commissioning remains targeted for 2027, with expansion to 40 000 t/y targeted from Year 4/about 2029.

Latest Developments
Pensana reported on June 8, 2026, that the $250-million Longonjo development remained on target and on budget.

The company has spent $36-million on direct mine and processing plant development costs, while main construction is now about 22% complete. The major site earthworks, geotechnical, drilling and test-piling programmes have been completed, and the on-site concrete batch and aggregate plants have been fully commissioned.

Long-lead process equipment procurement is well advanced, with about $135-million of the $250-million capex committed under the procurement schedule. The sulphuric acid plant, being supplied by Clark Solutions, is about 50% complete and ahead of schedule, while the ball mill, from NCP, is fully complete. The flash dryer and mixer, from Ingetecsa, are 56% and 69% complete respectively, while the calciner, from Drytech, is 69% complete. Detailed engineering by Pro-Process and Lycopodium is more than 40% complete.

An HREE recovery circuit optimisation is under way, targeting the production of more than 122 t/y of dysprosium and terbium oxides. Capital and operating cost studies for the circuit are being finalised, while offtake partners have indicated increased demand and enhanced valuation for MREC with higher heavy rare earth content.

Pensana has also launched an expanded drilling programme to grow Longonjo's resource inventory, with the stated ambition of increasing the resource base to more than one-billion tonnes.

The downstream strategy has shifted to modular separation and metal conversion. Pensana is optimising the process design of its previously engineered Saltend separation facility into scalable modular processing trains, including a dedicated heavy rare earth separation circuit and metal conversion capability. Under the EU's Horizon Europe PerMaNet Programme, Pensana expects the grant-backed workstream to link rare earth separation directly to metal conversion, with first integrated output targeted for 2028.

Pensana's offtake framework includes non-binding agreements with Toyota Tsusho for up to 20 000 t/y of MREC over five years, ReElement Technologies for proposed US processing, and VAC/eVAC Magnetics for a mine-to-magnet supply chain. The company says its current memorandum of understanding (MoU) pipeline has the potential to cover up to 100% of initial Phase 1 production.

The US mine-to-magnet strategy is supported by a $165-million strategic investment from Cascade Natural Resources, which has since been revised and updated and remains subject to long-form documentation. Pensana also refers to a proposed $160-million Absa debt financing package, guaranteed by the Export-Import Bank of the US, to support Longonjo construction. The FSDEA-funded early works programme has been concluded, with the final tranche of a $25-million equity facility received by Ozango Minerais and deployed towards main construction activities.

Pensana is also evaluating a potential Nasdaq dual listing to broaden access to US institutional capital.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
ADP (main contractor); MCC (main construction); NCP (ball mill); Bushtec (accommodation facilities); Pro-Process Engineering (modular process units and detailed engineering); Grupo Nov (contractor); Deugro (international procurement and logistics); Lycopodium Group and SRK Consulting (project delivery partners); Clark Solutions (sulphuric acid plant); Ingetecsa (flash dryer and mixer); Drytech (calciner); Toyota Tsusho, ReElement Technologies and VAC/eVAC Magnetics (offtake and downstream/mine-to-magnet MoU); and ABG Sundal Collier (Pensana's financial adviser).

Contact Details for Project Information
Pensana, email admin@pensana.co.uk.