18 July 2022
THIS ANNOUNCEMENT
CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION
Pensana Plc
("Pensana" or the
"Company")
Pensana awarded
Green Bond Certification
Pensana is pleased to announce that it has received
certification from CICERO, the leading independent provider of
assessments on green bond frameworks.
CICERO Shades of Green (CICERO) is Norway’s foremost institute
for interdisciplinary climate research, which is internationally
recognised as a leading provider of independent reviews of green
bonds. It is independent of the financial and corporate sectors and
a multiple award winner of International Environmental Finance
Assessment Awards.
CICERO has rated Pensana as in line with its principles, based
on the Company’s plans to create a sustainable magnet metal supply
chain through a rare earth processing facility at the Saltend
Chemicals Park in the Humber Freeport and mining in Angola.
CICERO has also rated Pensana’s operations as LIGHT GREEN with a
Governance score of GOOD. The rating refers to transition
activities and projects that reduce emissions or provide other
environmental benefits.
Pensana Chairman Paul Atherley commented:
“From the outset, the Pensana team
has set out to develop an independent and sustainable magnet metal
supply chain, and it is extremely gratifying to receive a positive
rating from an internationally recognised assessment agency of
CICERO’s standing.
The CICERO certification supports our
ambition to establish in the UK world-class production of the
critical magnet metals vital to the Electric Vehicle and Offshore
Wind industries.
Our aim is to produce ultra-low
carbon magnet metal powered by private wire link to Offshore Wind
at Saltend, supplied with high-value feedstock from Longonjo
powered by hydroelectricity.
The CICERO assessment will be
important for the proposed green bond issuance as it will broaden
the range of institutional investors interested in the
offering.”
About CICERO Shades of Green
CICERO is a leading independent provider of second opinions on
sustainability-linked bonds and financing frameworks to determine
their environmental robustness. CICERO’s Second Opinions build on
renowned climate research, drawing on competence from the CICERO
Centre for International Climate Research, one of the world’s
foremost institutes for interdisciplinary climate study. In the
Second Opinion, CICERO assesses whether a given activity or
technology supports a low-carbon and climate-resilient society in
the long-term.
The innovative methodology used by CICERO is aligned to the
International Capital Markets’ Association’s (ICMA) Green Bond
Principles and issuance of an opinion provides robust independent
verification that Pensana’s Saltend project is aligned to best
practice in the climate financing sector.
-ENDS-
For further information, please
contact:
Shareholder/analyst enquiries:
Pensana
Plc
Paul Atherley,
Chairman
IR@pensana.co.uk
Tim George, Chief Executive
Officer
Rob Kaplan, Chief Financial
Officer
Virginia Skroski, Head of
Investor Relations & Communications
Media enquiries:
FGS Global:
Gordon Simpson / Richard
Crowley
Pensana-LON@fgsglobal.com
The information contained within this announcement is considered
by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under
the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No.596/2014. Upon the publication
of this announcement via a Regulatory Information Service, this
inside information will be considered to be in the public domain.
The person responsible for arranging for the release of this
announcement on behalf of the Company is Paul Atherley (Chairman).
About Pensana Plc
The electrification of motive power is by far the most important
part of the energy transition and one of the biggest energy
transitions in history. Magnet metal rare earths are central to the
transition away from internal combustion engines and critical to
electric vehicles and offshore wind turbines.
Pensana plans to establish Saltend as an independent and
sustainable processing hub supplying the key magnet metal oxides to
a market which is currently dominated by China. The US$195
million Saltend facility is being designed to produce 12,500
tonnes per annum of rare earth oxides, of which 4,500 – 5,000
tonnes will be neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr), representing over
5% of the world market in 2025.
Pensana’s plug and play facility is located within the world
class Saltend Chemicals Park, a cluster of leading chemicals and
renewable energy businesses in the Humber Freeport and 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.
Pensana is aiming to establish Saltend as an attractive
alternative for mining companies 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