"Pensana's expertise in rare earth supply, including mining, will be invaluable in our mission and will play an integral role in pioneering new and innovative technologies to achieve what has so far been impossible," leader of the Polestar 0 project Hans Pehrson said.

The plan is to identify and eliminate all greenhouse gas emissions from the extraction of raw materials to when the car is delivered to the customer and onwards - to the end of vehicle life.

Partners in the project are to focus on certain processes and bring together research and innovation. The partners include Boliden (copper and other metals), Hydro (zero-carbon aluminium), SSAB (fossil-free steel), Sekab (biobased chemicals), and ZF (electric powertrains and others), Pensana said.

Pensana in July broke ground on the Saltend rare earth processing hub in the Humber Freeport, UK. Full production is targeted for 2024, with a capacity of 12,500 tonnes per year of rare earth oxides, processed from mixed rare earth sulphate mined at the company's Longonjo project in Angola.

Pensana's share price was 51p (US$0.58) on 20 September.