By: OrePulse

Pensana, the London-listed rare earths developer, said on October 26, 2026, that it remains in financing discussions with major shareholders, including Cascade, to secure the $75 million to $90 million in equity needed by its subsidiary, Ozango Minerais, to fund the Longonjo rare earths mine in Angola.

Cascade holds a total funding commitment of $165 million to the project and has deployed $15 million of that amount to date. The company expects to put in a significant further tranche within the next 14 days, according to Pensana.

Pensana attributed its recent slower pace of spending to the ongoing work of finalizing this equity round.

The company describes Longonjo as one of the world's largest undeveloped rare earth deposits and expects it to become one of the first major rare earth mines to reach production in roughly a decade. The project is designed to produce both light and heavy rare earths in the form of mixed rare earth carbonate.

Pensana said the project is fully permitted and fully engineered. Construction is about 30% complete, and more than 60% of planned procurement spending has already been committed.

The company has signed a power purchase agreement to supply the mine with hydropower from the Laúca dam. Planned exports of the mixed rare earth carbonate will move through the Port of Lobito via the Lobito Corridor railway.

Longonjo is designed to produce 20,000 tonnes a year of mixed rare earth carbonate initially, with output rising to 40,000 tonnes a year by the fourth year of operation.

Pensana said it has spent more than $90 million developing Longonjo from exploration through to the project's current advanced stage, a process it said has taken about nine years. Citing data from S&P Global Market Intelligence, Pensana said most mines take more than 16 years to reach a similar stage of development.

Pensana is targeting binding offtake agreements and debt approvals by February 2027, with commissioning of the mine planned for early 2028 and full production targeted for late 2028.

The company did not disclose further detail on the terms being discussed with Cascade or other shareholders for the equity raise, or say when the financing round is expected to close.

Mixed rare earth carbonate of the kind planned at Longonjo is an intermediate product used as feedstock for separation into individual rare earth elements, which are in turn used in magnets, catalysts and other industrial applications. Pensana's plan to ship the material out through the Port of Lobito links the project to the wider Lobito Corridor rail route, which runs from Angola's Atlantic coast into the interior.

Pensana pointed to the signed hydropower supply agreement, the advanced state of construction and the level of committed procurement spending as indications that Longonjo remains on track for its targeted 2028 start-up, even as discussions with Cascade and other shareholders over the equity raise continue.