Pensana, a London-based rare earth developer, plans to relocate its planned refinery at the Saltend Chemicals Park to the US.

Paul Atherley, Pensana's founder and chairman, noted that the proposed UK refinery's primary challenge was the very low rare earth prices in China, which made project financing difficult. 

Furthermore, despite the project's several locational advantages, relatively little support from the UK government has hampered its progress. However, the US government is working to attract supply chains to the country. 

Pensana's planned refinery near Hull is to process rare earths into metals used to make powerful magnets.