31 March 2022
Pensana Plc
(“Pensana” or
the “Company”)
Appointment of
Finance Director
Pensana Plc is pleased to announce the appointment of
Robert Kaplan as Finance Director
with effect from 31 March 2022.
Rob is a Chartered Accountant with over 20 years’ experience in
corporate finance with Main Market and AIM listed companies on the
London Stock Exchange. He was appointed Chief Financial Officer of
Pensana on 1 January 2020. Robert
joined Pensana from London listed
Petra Diamonds Limited where, in his role as Finance Manager
Corporate and Head of Treasury, he was involved in
numerous mine financings. These included two bond issuances
totalling US$1 billion, a number of
African lender facilities totalling over US$750 million and most recently, an equity
rights issue of US$178 million on the
London Stock Exchange. Rob will continue to lead Pensana’s Finance
team, supported by highly experienced natural resources financier
and non-executive director Steve
Sharpe.
Pensana Chairman, Paul Atherley, commented:
"We are delighted to announce Rob’s well-deserved appointment
as Finance Director. He brings a wealth of experience from leading
London listed companies in the
natural resources space and will be pivotal in Pensana’s next phase
or growth. It is an incredibly exciting time for the company, as we
enter the final stages of funding for our Saltend and Longonjo
development projects, bringing us ever closer to creating the
world’s first independent, sustainable rare earth supply chain
based in the UK.”
ENDS
For further information, please
contact:
Shareholder/analyst
enquiries: |
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Pensana Plc |
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Paul Atherley, Chairman |
IR@pensana.co.uk |
Tim George, Chief Executive
Officer |
|
Virginia Skroski, Head
of Investor Relations & Communications |
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|
Media enquiries: |
|
Finsbury Glover Hering: |
|
Gordon Simpson / Richard
Crowley |
Pensana-LON@finsbury.com
|
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About Pensana plc
The electrification of motive power is the most important part
of the energy transition and one of the biggest energy transitions
in history. Magnet metals are central to the transition and
critical to high value manufacturing applications such as electric
vehicles and offshore wind turbines.
Pensana 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$190
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 over 5% of
the world market in 2025.
The Saltend facility is located within the world class Saltend
Chemicals Park, a cluster of leading chemicals and renewable energy
businesses at the heart of the UK’s energy estuary, and host to a
range of companies including BP Petrochemicals technology, INEOS,
Air Products, Triton Power, Nippon Gohsei and Tricoya.
Pensana’s plug and play facility will create over 500 jobs
during construction and over 125 direct jobs once in production. It
will be the first major separation facility to be established in
over a decade and will become one of only three major producers
located outside China.
Initial feedstock will be shipped as a clean, high purity mixed
rare earth sulphate (MRES) from the Company’s Longonjo low impact
mine in Angola. The mine’s
state-of-the-art concentrator and proprietary MRES processing plant
are being designed by Wood to the highest international standards.
They will be powered by minimal carbon hydro-electric power and
connected to the Port of Lobito by the recently upgraded Benguela
railway line.
Pensana is of the view that provenance of critical rare earth
materials supply, life cycle analysis and GHG Scope 1, 2 and 3
emissions will all become significant factors in supply chains for
major customers. The Company intends to offer customers an
independently and sustainably sourced supply of the metal oxides
and carbonates of increasing importance to a range of applications
central to the energy transition, industrial, medical, military and
communications sectors.
For many miners around the world who are looking to access the
European and US supply chains, it is becoming increasingly clear
that the proposed EU and possible UK carbon border taxation would
mean that it is no longer acceptable for manufacturers to source
material extracted or processed unsustainably.
Pensana is aiming to establish Saltend as an attractive
alternative to mining houses who may otherwise be limited to
selling their products to China,
having designed the facility to be easily adapted to cater for a
range of rare earth feedstocks.
www.pensana.co.uk