When most people hear rare earth minerals, their minds immediately think it refers to the rarest minerals in the world. However, that is not the case. Rare earth minerals are among the most abundant minerals in the world. The word “rare” refers to their scarcity at the time of their discovery.
Rare earth minerals are essential manufacturing components in the world. That is because they can help transition from a fossil fuel-powered global economy to an economy reliant on renewable energy. You can find parts made from rare earth minerals in numerous technologies considered vital to the transition to sustainability, like electric motors and wind turbines.
The name “rare earths” is a product of their time of discovery. Scientists first discovered the complex ores containing rare earth elements towards the end of the 18th century. They were known “earths” at the time. These elements were hard to find and separate from the ores, hence their categorization as rare.
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.
