ASX-listed Pensana Metals, which is developing a rare earths project in Angola, is considering a listing on the LSE by the end of the year, the company has reported.
Pensana stated that it would undertake an investor road show next week, ahead of a planned listing on the main board towards the end of 2019.
“Discussions have already commenced with financial advisers, and further announcements will be made in due course,” stated the company, which is developing the Longonjo neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) mining project.
NdPr is a component of all electric vehicle drive trains.
Pensana recently announced a substantial upgrade of the mineral resource estimate at the Longonjo deposit to an inferred resource of 240-million tonnes at 1.60% rare earths oxides (REO), including 0.35% NdPr for 3 850 000 t of REO including 840 000 t of NdPr.
Pensana’s announcement comes as interest in the rare earths sector has picked up. Last week, Australian conglomerate Wesfarmers launched a A$1.5-billion unsolicited cash bid for ASX-listed Lynas – the world’s only non‐Chinese producer of NdPr.
This bid follows an announcement that Fidelity, one of Lynas’ major institutional shareholders, has accumulated a 5% stake in Pensana.