Plans for a complex chemical engineering plant to kickstart a magnet metal supply chain from the Humber Bank have been submitted.
Pensana Rare Earth’s proposed processing facility at Saltend is valued at more than £90 million, and could create 100 jobs once operating.
The oxide separation site would feed in mined materials from the company’s African explorations, with the end products produced by other businesses going into wind turbines and electric vehicles.
Engineering giant Wood Group is designing the facility, which would become one of the world’s largest producers of rare earth oxides.
Pensana’s chairman, Paul Atherley, said: “We have been delighted with the enthusiastic support from a broad range of stakeholders for this proposed investment, which will create high value manufacturing jobs in the Humber region and will be an important step in establishing the world’s first sustainable mine to magnet metal supply chain in the UK.
"The plug and play services provided by the PX Group at the world-class Saltend Chemicals Park have substantially reduced the capital cost of the proposed facility, allowing us to focus on the operational aspects of the investment and providing scope for our longer-term ambitions.
“We look forward to working with local stakeholders on establishing the approvals for this investment in high value manufacturing in the UK.”
The London Stock Exchange-listed firm announced the potential investment last month, with the Humber preferred to sites in Merseyside, Teesside and Germany. As highlighted, the gas, electricity and chemical availability and connectivity at Saltend was key.
The application, to East Riding Council, is expected to take up to three months to review.
PX Group’s commercial manager, Garry Gibbon, told of the enthusiasm for the project earlier this month.
“We are absolutely delighted to welcome Pensana on to the site,” he said. “We bought the site as the operating company in March 2018 and this is the first company that has committed over the two years.”
The enquiry came through via Humber Local Enterprise Partnership in November, underlining the pace of the investment, as mining for the materials has ramped up in Angola.
