London-listed Pensana has appointed a new COO and a new metallurgical manager, as part of the company's strategy to establish the world's first fully sustainable mine-to-magnet metal supply chain from the proposed rare earth oxide separation facility at the Saltend Chemicals Park in the Humber, Yorkshire.
Rocky Smith, a chemical engineer with 35 years' experience in the rare earths industry, has been appointed COO.
He was previously MD of Molycorp's Mountain Pass rare earth project in California, in the US, which is now owned by NYSE-listed MP Materials.
Further, Roy Gordon, a hydrometallurgist with more than ten year's experience across international projects in support of the high-value manufacturing and advanced manufacturing economies, has been appointed metallurgical manager.
He previously worked at rare earths miner Peak Resources.
"He has built and optimised projects supporting magnet and battery manufacture and holds an MBA from Curtin University and a Double Major in Chemistry and Mineral Science from Murdoch University," states Pensana.
"We warmly welcome Rocky and Roy to the growing Pensana management team ahead of our developments at Saltend and in Angola and our ambition to establish the world's first fully sustainable mine to magnet supply chain," comments chairperson Paul Atherley.
Pensana owns the Longonjo rare earths mining project, in Angola.