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20 February 2023. Monday
(Feb 19): Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Chang Lih Kang suggested that Lynas Rare Earths Ltd could keep its unit in Malaysia if the Australian company ships out the radioactive waste.
“If someone is willing to ship the ‘low-risk radioactive waste’ [as claimed] out of our country, the government can consider retaining the C & L plant in Gebeng,” the minister said in a tweet on Sunday (Feb 19), referring to Lynas’ cracking and leaching unit of its facility in Kuantan.
Earlier this week, Lynas got its operating licence for its Kuantan plant renewed for three years from July 1, but failed to get approval to keep running a unit that Malaysian authorities say generates radiocative waste. “No party has the right to continuously produce radioactive waste in our homeland,” Chang told reporters last Wednesday.
The company’s operating licence in Malaysia came with conditions that prohibited the import and processing of lanthanide concentrate after July 1 this year, meaning the miner will have to close the cracking and leaching unit.
Lynas, the largest producer of rare earths outside China, said the Malaysian unit had appealed against the licence conditions to the minister.
Read also:Lynas Malaysia refutes claims of radioactive contaminants in underground water caused by Pahang facilityLynas gets three-year licence renewal but must stop activities producing radioactive wastes by July Lynas says closure of cracking and leaching facility will result in loss of ‘hundreds of directs jobs’ Lynas’ Malaysian rare earths plant faces part closure as regulator keeps curbsAustralia’s Lynas gets approval for renewal of Malaysian operating licence
