TIDMPRE 
 
31 August 2021 
 
                                  Pensana Plc 
 
                         ("Pensana" or the "Company") 
 
          Update on site development, Financing and Investor Webinar 
 
Pensana Plc is pleased to provide an investor update following a recent Board 
Meeting held at the Saltend Chemicals Park ("Saltend") in Humber Freeport, 
Northern England. 
 
Pensana's US$125 million plant will be the first major rare earth separation 
facility to be built in over a decade and the first to be located in a 
Freeport. It will become an important hub in establishing an independent magnet 
metal supply chain for the UK and beyond, creating over 100 high value direct 
jobs and over 500 jobs during construction. 
 
Site developments under way at Saltend and Longonjo 
 
At the Saltend project in Humber, UK: 
 
  * Front End Engineering Design (FEED) is advancing per schedule and expected 
    to be complete in October. Thereafter EPCM contracts are expected to be 
    awarded. 
  * Pensana has entered into a 25-year lease agreement with pxGroup and 
    Associated British Ports (ABP) for the initial nine-hectare Saltend site 
    with scope for expansion. 
  * Geotechnical drilling and trenching works have commenced. These will 
    confirm input data for the completion of foundation design for the 
    processing plant buildings and infrastructure. 
  * Wood, the international engineering group, is working with pxGroup to 
    optimise jetty to site reagent and material handling arrangements along 
    with the provision of 'plug and play' power, water, steam and fuel 
    supplies. 
  * Pensana is also in discussions with Freeport stakeholders from pxGroup, ABP 
    and KPMG to finalise government submissions to clarify of the benefits and 
    incentives applicable to the Freeport enterprise zone tax and customs zone 
    for the Saltend Chemicals Park. 
 
At the Longonjo project in Angola: 
 
  * Front End Engineering Design (FEED) is again advancing per schedule and 
    expected to be complete in October with EPCM contracts awarded thereafter. 
  * The Lidar survey for the complete site (inclusive of surrounding bulk 
    service infrastructure and the transmission line providing connection to 
    hydro-electric power) has now been completed along with hydrological 
    studies of water supply and 100 year floodline assessments. 
  * Detailed geotechnical investigation, under the supervision of global 
    specialists SRK, has been mobilized. It will confirm final plant and 
    infrastructure foundation design, tailings storage facility and pit 
    stability criteria which have been based on previous broader area 
    campaigns. 
 
ATF Funding 
 
The Company's expression of interest in the UK Government's up to £1bn 
Automotive Transformation Fund ("ATF") has been received positively by the 
programme board. The application for grant or other forms of financial support 
is currently under government review. 
 
The Company does not have any indication on the timing of any potential award, 
however it will advise shareholders as soon as advice is received. 
 
Bond Financing for the Saltend rare earth separating facility in Humber, UK 
 
Pensana has engaged ABG Sundal Collier (ABGSC), a leading Nordic investment 
bank headquartered in Oslo, Norway, to progress the debt financing. 
 
ABGSC is a premier investment bank in the Nordic market with an extensive track 
record in the Nordic high yield market and broad natural resources sector 
expertise and debt structuring. The transaction will be supported by ABGSC's 
top ranked credit research team, delivering unique investor education and 
credit story marketing. 
 
With broad natural resources sector expertise, capital markets and debt 
structuring experience alongside extensive capabilities in negotiating 
intercreditor terms with government agencies, ABGSC is well placed to assist in 
the execution of the proposed bond issuance. 
 
The envisaged senior debt facilities under discussion comprise a senior secured 
first lien facility amount of up to US$250 million over a five-year term. 
 
ABGSC will be initiating their detailed due diligence review shortly and will 
look to be in a position to target a bond issuance during Q4 2021 once FEED and 
site preparation is complete. 
 
Offtake and Marketing Agreements 
 
Discussions have commenced with a number of prospective offtake partners with a 
view to securing offtake and/or marketing agreements to support the main 
financing. To date non-disclosure agreements have been executed with three 
interested parties and discussions have been initiated with several more. 
 
Investor Webinar 
 
Pensana will hold an investor webinar at 08:00 UK on Wednesday 8 September. 
Investors may register and submit questions ahead of the webinar using this 
link: 
 
  https://www.investormeetcompany.com/pensana-plc/register-investor 
 
Chairman Paul Atherley commented "We continue to work closely with the UK 
Government's Automotive Transformation Fund on support for the world-class 
Saltend rare earth processing hub which will create over 500 jobs during 
construction and over 100 high value permanent jobs once in operation. 
 
Saltend will be the first major rare earth separation facility to be developed 
in over a decade and will be the first to be located in a Freeport. The 
facility will process feedstock from the Company's Longonjo project and from 
other sources around the world, producing the magnet metal oxides critical for 
the EV and offshore wind turbine supply chains." 
 
For further information: 
 
Pensana Plc 
 
Website:                                           www.pensana.co.uk 
Paul Atherley, Chairman / Tim George, CEO          contact@pensana.co.uk 
 
About Pensana 
 
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$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. 
 
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 100 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 
open-cast mine, 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. 
 
 
 
END 
 
 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 31, 2021 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)

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