Pensana Rare Earths looks into UK processing facility

(Reuters) - Pensana Rare Earths <PRE.L>, which is developing the Longonjo rare earths project in Angola, has appointed Wood Group to study the potential for the company to set up a rare earth oxide production facility in Britain.

Rare earths are a group of minerals, including neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr) oxide, used in magnets helping power a range of products from iPhones to wind turbines.

The projected production from Longonjo, combined with a processing facility in Britain, would be enough to supply the wind turbines at Dogger Bank - a wind farm off the coast of Yorkshire - for the next 20 years, Pensana said on Monday.

Each turbine requires over 7 tonnes of permanent magnets, Pensana said.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson last week announced a 160 million pound investment as part of a drive to quadruple Britain's offshore wind capacity to 40 gigawatts (GW) by 2030, in a bid to build a "green" recovery from the pandemic.

(Reporting by Helen Reid; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)