(Kitco News) - Pensana (LSE: PRE) informed today that it has signed a letter of intent securing private wire connection to battery storage operated by Yorkshire Energy Park under which it will have access to 4 MW rising to 10 MW of low-carbon electricity for 10 years.
Pensana said it will use the low-cost and resilient supply of low-carbon electricity to power the Saltend rare earths separation facility and then later to power the conversion of NdPr Oxide into magnet metal, making it the first in the world to use offshore wind to produce ultra-low carbon magnet metal.
Chairman Paul Atherley commented, "Through the private wire connection to Yorkshire Energy Park our aim is to become the world's lowest carbon magnet metal producer, with Pensana becoming the first company globally to use offshore wind to produce ultra-low carbon magnet metal.”
Pensana also noted it plans to establish Saltend as an independent, sustainable supplier of the key magnet metal oxides to a market which is currently dominated by China.
The US$125 million Saltend facility is being designed to produce circa 12,500 tonnes per annum of rare earth oxides, of which 4,500 tonnes will be neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr), representing around 5% of the world market in 2025.
Initial feedstock will be shipped as a clean, high purity mixed rare earth sulphate from the company's Longonjo rare earth mine in Angola.
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