Following the easing of Covid-19 restrictions, team members from UK-based Pensana, construction engineering company pxGroup and engineering consultants Wood Group have started site works at the Saltend Chemicals Park to establish the world's first sustainable rare earth separation facility.
The $125-million facility is set to create over 100 direct jobs and will supply more than 5% of the world’s critical magnet metal oxides including for use in electric vehicles and offshore wind turbines.
“The works on site at Saltend mark the early stage of delivering Pensana's nationally significant rare earth separation facility, creating an independent, sustainable supply chain for magnet-critical industries like EVs and offshore wind.
“Saltend will become important to the UK’s net zero ambitions, bring high-value manufacturing jobs back to Humber and create a platform on which sustainable supply chains can be established in the UK,” says Pensana chairperson Paul Atherley.
Pensana in April reported that Wood Group had designed Pensana’s Longonjo mine, in Angola, to international standards and supervised metallurgical test work. Pilot plant trials undertaken to date demonstrate that the mine will produce a clean, high-value mixed rare earth sulphate for further separation at Saltend.