Highlights
- Pensana is developing an integrated rare earth model connecting Angola's Longonjo deposit with UK processing.
- Challenging traditional Chinese raw-ore export strategies.
- The company prioritizes African value creation.
- Focuses on sustainable low-carbon operations.
- Engages in strategic partnerships with Western manufacturers and technology firms.
- Targets the EV, robotics, and AI markets with a forward-looking approach.
- Aims to become a key alternative rare earth supplier for Western industrial needs.
Pensana plc (opens in a new tab) is a London-listed developer aiming to reshape the rare earth landscape with an integrated model linking Africa to Western industry. Headed by Chairman Paul Atherley (opens in a new tab), a veteran executive noted for global mine financing and capital success (including a sale to Xi Jinping’s family), the company is pursuing a vertically integrated path: mining in Angola and refining in the UK.
At the heart of Pensana’s model is the Longonjo NdPr deposit (opens in a new tab)—one of the largest undeveloped NdPr resources globally—and the UK-based Saltend separation plant, designed to produce Mixed Rare Earth Carbonate (MREC) and eventual magnet-grade oxide. Note the UK project is on hold, but the group has found a method to generate high-quality MREC responsive to market needs, while now inking deals with American midstream processors.
Cementing its Western partnerships, Pensana counts Angola’s sovereign investment fund among its stakeholders and is leveraging the Lobito Corridor infrastructure (opens in a new tab) to create a shared “win–win” paradigm prioritizing African development over raw-ore supply models typical of Chinese engagements.
Financially, Pensana is early-stage and investment-heavy. As of mid-2025, the company had:
- Market cap: £212M, enterprise value: £224M
- Negative EBITDA (~–£5.4M), total debt of £15.4M, and cash reserves effectively minimal
- Run-off funded to support Longonjo construction, with ~£250M committed under offtake-backed finance. The Saltend project is currently paused in favor of MREC production—a lower-cost, higher-margin product tailored for EV OEMs and emerging humanoid robotics sectors.
Strategic Context & Competitive Landscape
Pensana’s strategy differs sharply from China’s raw-ore export model. Instead, it prioritizes:
- Value creation through beneficiation and separation in Africa. And for that Rare Earth Exchanges (REEx) commends Paul Atherley and his team.
- Joint investment and shared infrastructure with regional partners, again a model that the U.S. government should study as it needs more presence in Africa.
- ESG-aligned, low-carbon operations powered by African hydropower and UK renewables
- Secure feedstock offtake via alliances with ReElement Technologies (opens in a new tab) (Indiana-based) and African partners
Chairman Atherley notes that China’s overcapacity is approaching a tipping point. As Beijing seeks to constrain exports, prices may rise sharply—creating demand for Western alternative supply chains. The U.S. market is particularly opportunistic, especially given government support for MP Materials and clean tech alliances with firms like ReElement. But just as importantly, there is the coming automation boom, including the widespread use of humanoids. REEx will be investigating these forecasts more carefully in the weeks and months ahead.
The Lobito Corridor
Inside Pensana’s Playbook: A Strategic Rare Earths Conversation with Chairman Paul Atherley
In a compelling virtual sit-down, REEx co-founder and CEO Daniel O’Connor (opens in a new tab) caught up with Pensana Chairman Paul Atherley—a global mining veteran known for delivering high-stakes projects from Australia to China. What emerged was a candid and strategic glimpse into how Pensana aims to redefine rare earth supply chains with ethics, precision, and geopolitical savvy.
Leadership, Ethics & Execution: A New Supply Chain Paradigm
“Fundamentally different from the Chinese model”—that’s how Atherley framed Pensana’s Angola-to-USA value chain. In contrast to China’s extract-export dominance, Pensana champions a win-win formula: African value creation, local job generation, and sovereign investor participation.
The goal? Build wealth where the resources are, while adding value to the supply chain.
In fact, President Trump’s team should study what the Pensana team has done in southwestern Africa if they want to take on China in that critically important continent.
Execution-wise, Atherley brings decades of hands-on mining grit. To reduce risk and contain costs, Pensana is deploying a modular construction approach—built to sidestep the overruns and delays that have plagued many Western critical mineral ventures.
Market Access, Partnerships & Demand Tailwinds
Pensana’s goal isn’t to play catch-up—it’s to leapfrog. With magnet rare earth carbonate (MREC) production aimed at the U.S., EU, and Japan, the company is cutting straight to the source of demand. “We go directly to the OEMs,” Atherley emphasized, outlining partnerships not just with midstream players like ReElement, but also with downstream manufacturers and end-users. The aim? Embed rare earths directly into the industrial resurgence of the West, with America becoming increasingly a nexus.
While Atherley kept deal specifics with ReElement under wraps, he described them as “integrated, long-term, and win-win.” And in a nod to the future, he confirmed Pensana’s ambition to expand into magnet alloy and component manufacturing in both the U.S. and potentially still the UK and Japan with midstream partners.
Ditching China’s Pricing Power
On pricing, Atherley offered a pointed critique: short-term Chinese price benchmarks no longer serve the West’s industrial strategy. Pensana is favoring multi-year, volume-based contracts that offer predictability and resilience. “Expect China’s spot pricing to become less relevant,” he hinted, as Western-aligned frameworks take root.
Looking Ahead: AI, Automation & Federal Alignment
From humanoid robotics to AI-driven automation, Pensana sees a surge in rare earth demand not just from EVs—but from everything. Atherley predicts MREC demand could double in five years. And while tight-lipped on specifics, he revealed Pensana is actively engaging with multiple U.S. federal agencies—suggesting major partnerships may be brewing behind the scenes.
Why Pensana Matters
Pensana isn’t just another rare earth hopeful. It’s positioning itself as the ethical, Western-aligned alternative—linking African value-added resource wealth with American, and potentially European and Japanese midstream processing and American manufacturing. With a seasoned leadership team, win-win African ethos, low-carbon blueprint, and expanding ties across the industrial value chain, Pensana is building a model others may soon follow. Again, the U.S government should pay attention.
If the company manages regulatory, execution, and financing hurdles, it could emerge as a plug-and-play solution for the West’s magnet-grade rare earth independence. For investors, OEMs, and policymakers—Pensana’s trajectory deserves close attention, given the potential stakes.
Potentially a niche RE miner, yes.
As to UK processing, they have talked about this for years but were never able to interest the UK gov’ in any strategic backing. Not even sure they have moved beyond the photo op’ hard hats in suits with shovels years ago.
The UK has shown little interest in anything outside of RE recycling (HyProMag and Ionic RE/Tech) or refining (Less Common Metals). IOHO, Pensana remains much closer to a ‘Peak’ like RE retail investor mining focused opportunity, than e.g., an Arafura.
GLTA – REI
(Transparency – we hold Arafura and Ionic RE)