The term “critical minerals” is used a lot these days, and it’s not always used with precision. It should be used to describe minerals (or elements) that are both essential to a nation’s economic and strategic interests and at risk of supply disruptions. Put simply, you need it and it might become hard to get. Identifying need is usually based on global technology needs, such as for advanced manufacturing and defence, and importantly for emissions reduction technologies because our plans for the energy transition require us to move so much faster than these sorts of things tend to naturally develop. A lot of the materials we need for the energy transition has not been used in much volume before, so the supply chain is not mature yet for the volumes we will soon need. We are going to need different kinds of minerals and more minerals overall to build the solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles and battery storage we need to get to net zero, and expansion of electricity grids to enable that.
Rare earths, are a group of 17 elements with unique properties crucial for the high-strength magnets used in wind turbines and electric motors. While not indispensable for these technologies, the advantages they offer in terms of efficiency and size are significant. Yet, their extraction and refinement are fraught with economic and environmental hurdles, often involving radioactive by-products that necessitate stringent controls to mitigate environmental harm.
Pensana plc (LON:PRE) explores and mines neodymium, praseodymium, and rare earth minerals. The Company’s flagship assets are the Saltend rare earth refinery project in the United Kingdom and Longonjo neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr) Project in Angola.
