Building the world's first sustainable magnet supply chain

"We have been worried about the resilience of the supply chain," he said. "Supply chain resilience is at the top of the agenda for world leaders." "We can't have everything relying on China."

Just as important as building a reliable supply chain is creating a supply chain that is sustainable, Atherley went further to say.

"We are trying to establish independent and sustainable rare earth production in the UK with low embedded carbon," Atherley said.

Resilience in supply chains will be vital in meeting future demand, he continued. Demand for these rare earth materials is set to explode exponentially, according to figures from Adamas Intelligence.

"Every year the price for rare earth metals is higher. Rare earth mines are very difficult to bring into production," he said. "By the time 2035 comes, the deficit of rare earth metals will be 15 times Pensana's projected annual production."

The rare earths produced by Pensana will be used in permanent magnets which power electric vehicles and offshore wind turbines.

"What makes EVs go is not only the lithium-ion battery - the real power is in the permanent magnets," Atherley commented.

"Electric vehicles contain two kilos of permanent magnets in all sorts of motors," he said, whilst wind turbines are heavily reliant on permanent magnets to function.

Production of Volkswagen's ID.3 range of EVs would "consume all of Pensana's production for a decade," he said.

Demand will be even greater once the growth of the robot industry is considered, he added.

"It is very clear that as China, the EU and the US industrialise and turn their factories towards robots, these robots will require permanent magnets," Atherley said.

"We [at Pensana] were blindsided by this information. Permanent magnet demands for robots will be bigger than electric vehicles."

Pensana is one of three major players on the global market that can bring these critical minerals to market - the others being Australia-based Lynas Rare Earths and US-based MP Materials, the Chairman said.

The Company benefits from a stellar Board which has led Pensana to a "stellar listing" on the LSE, Atherley said. The Board includes Steve Sharpe, an Executive Board Member of EIT Raw Materials; Dr Jeremy Beeton, Director-General of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and Non-executive Director of John Laing; and Rt Hon Baroness Northover, formerly the Prime Minister's Trade Envoy to Angola and a Minister in the Department for International Development.