Pensana PLC has been granted planning permission to establish one of the world’s first sustainable rare earth separation facilities, at px Group’s Saltend Chemicals Park, located in the UK’s ‘Energy Estuary’, in Hull.
The facility will produce materials that are critical to electric car and wind turbine production – both vital components of the decarbonisation of the region and the UK as a whole, as well as the wider Energy Transition.
The planning application was submitted in January and was granted in mid-April. The successful application for the facility at Saltend means that px Group is a step closer to hosting another world-class company at the Park, adding to the likes of INEOS and Nippon Gohsei already based there.
The $125m facility would directly create over 100 jobs involved in processing purified rare earth sulphates, with ground clearing and site separation processes due to begin imminently. Construction and commissioning is anticipated to take around 18 months to complete.*
The facility has a target production of around 12,500 annualised tonnes of rare oxides, including 4,500 tonnes of magnet metal rare oxides, representing approximately 5% of the global projected demand.*
This is the latest major boost for px Group and Saltend Chemicals Park which, in association with Zero Carbon Humber (ZCH) and its plans to create the UK’s first zero carbon cluster, will soon host ZCH’s flagship project, Hydrogen to Humber Saltend (H2H Saltend).
Geoff Holmes, CEO of px Group, comments:

“The news of Pensana’s successful planning application is another fantastic feather in the cap for Saltend Chemicals Park, which will now officially host Pensana and the UK’s first rare earth processing facility. Rare earths play a crucial role in the production of powerful magnets that help power the wind turbines and the electric vehicles that will help decarbonise our economy.”
“It is yet another company investing at Saltend, and proves the Park has the Energy Transition at its heart following the Zero Carbon Humber bid win and Vivergo announcing it is re-starting production.”
“Receiving planning permission in just three months for such a huge project – both in terms of significance for the UK and in terms of the facility’s sheer size – is testament to our teams’ abilities to work closely with clients with shared goals.”

*Pensana PLC: https://pensana.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/21.04.21-FINAL-Pensana-Announcement-of-Business-Plan.pdf