Stop deceiving Malaysians on Lynas issue

Updated 5 years ago · Published on 14 Dec 2018 4:11PM · 20 Comments

DEAREST minister,

I read your reply to Lynas employees, and can’t say I am not dismayed. I write this as one of the only voices in support of Lynas, as your government, with specific respect to your ministry, seems unwilling to budge on any issue with regard to heavy metal processing and radiation-related activities.

As a holder of an MPhil in Advanced Chemical Engineering from the University of Cambridge, I expected more from you as a minister, especially regarding issues unpopular to the public.

Minister, I would like to refer you to the oft-repeated clarifications Lynas has provided on the topic of waste management. The company has clearly stated its commitment to undertake the recycling of its waste, to take advantage of the high concentration of highly valuable minerals present within it. For this, Lynas has invested a good amount of its annual profits to undertake detailed research and development.

In my opinion, as the energy, science, technology, environment and climate change minister, you should be supportive of this and even partner with Lynas to speed up its efforts, while training Malaysians on the very same matter. As you would be rightly aware, the rare earth metals processed by Lynas are imperative to many technologies, especially those that produce green energy.

How can you, dear minister, antagonise a company that is imperative in producing the very solar panels and wind turbines you have championed?

But I digress. Your point was waste management, let me come back to that.

Lynas has, for years, stated its commitment to recycle its waste, failing which, it will identify and build permanent disposal sites for the said waste, failing which, it will extract all waste from Malaysia. This has been its commitment for so long. For you to imply only the extreme latter shows your bias against the company, and it is unbecoming of a person of your stature to do so.

Another matter I would like to discuss lies in your own ministry’s website. I wonder, dear minister, if you have read the report by the Executive Committee of the Operational Assessment for Lynas (Lamp)? In its recommendations, there is none stating the immediate removal of waste from Malaysia.

Granted, there are recommendations to remove waste from Malaysia if sites for permanent disposal cannot be identified or approved. On environmental considerations, an environmental impact assessment and a radiological impact assessment are recommended to ensure Lamp procedures are in line with what is safe. Moreover, on the release of a greater concentration of heavy metals into water streams, the report recommends research on where this breach of regulation comes from. Again, there is no immediate need to remove waste.

You have mentioned in your reply, dear minister, that the Lynas management is trying to stage a drama, that the use of paid advertorials and press conferences is to show the ministry in a bad light. Let me ask you a simple question. In a situation where the current government comprises those who are against Lynas’ business, in an era where people do not understand the company’s operations and are constantly attacking it unfairly, what is Lynas to do? It just so happens that Lynas has the means to get its side of the story out, and so it does, through whatever means possible.

I would argue that, in fact, it is you who is trying to show Lynas in a bad light by presenting sly arguments that wilfully hide most of the story to make you seem better in the public eye.

I wonder where your zeal goes when considering the myriad of coal-fired power plants in Malaysia. In fact, I remember our prime minister saying we should look to Sabahan coal for energy, rather than nuclear power. Where were you then? Why have you not gone to the multitude of independent power producers burning tonnes of coal to produce electricity, and slap them with fines? Or are they all miraculously clean-burning? Are you unaware of the pollution caused by coal? Or are you more interested in political power than doing your job well?

I don’t understand, dear minister, why you mentioned that Lynas is not keeping to its word when it is you who are trying to prematurely remove Lynas’ waste from Malaysia. No talk of recycling, no talk of looking for permanent disposal sites, pure vilification as if the company is hoodwinking the public. What is this vitriol? Why Lynas?

Actually, we know why. Lynas is an unpopular company, often regarded as the ultimate bogeyman. You don’t care about proper procedure, you care about votes. You care about your image as a green minister, a minister who fights for a cleaner Malaysia. While I can commend you for moving against plastic straws and trying to make solar power more popular, I must say it is deeply disappointing that such an intelligent person would wilfully use a business to further their own cause. Shame on you, minister.

I read as well the partial reply to your letter from the deputy president of Lynas, Mimi Afzan Afza, on your non-response to Lynas’ multiple invitations for you to visit its site. Now, I cannot comment on whether this is true, but assuming it is, how can you judge a company without having engaged with it in the first place? Is this another attempt to undermine Barisan Nasional’s policies just to make yourself feel better? If so, how dare you utilise your esteemed offices to further your own cause, when it is for that very reason the people of Malaysia kicked out BN in May. Or is that too far back to remember?

Enough with the silliness. Stop antagonising Lynas and work with it to better its process, if needed. It is not rare earth metals that are our enemy; it is coal and other fossil fuels. Yet, we are seeing the development of a third national car with no talk of divestment from these harmful industries.

From what I can gather, Lynas is following procedure quite well. Most of its processes and activities are not harmful, and where there are problems, they can be dealt with locally. When all else fails, Lynas can and has promised to remove its wastes post-haste. It is even economically low-impact, as you have rightly pointed out.

So please, move on and stop deceiving Malaysians further. It takes away from the great work you are otherwise doing. Thank you for your time. – December 14, 2018.

* Arveent Kathirtchelvan is chief coordinator of Liberasi.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.

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Comments

  • I think the Minister is just having the Malaysians at heart. He can always choose to have Lynas in pocket. Whats wrong with requirement to remove the waste.

    Posted 5 years ago by Ebrahim Mohideen · Reply

    • Well the agreement should be honoured that the residues should be recycled, if this fails then permanently store, if all fails then remove. There have been no evidence of dangerous radiation. The minister cannot change goal post and impose hefty conditions at her whim and fancy, especially after others have invested a lot. This is simply unethical. Really embarrassing for Malaysians that we treat a foreign company this way.

      Posted 5 years ago by Cheng long lu · Reply

  • As she is the minister of environment, that is her first priority.. environment health and safety of all the people... against the atrocities and long term damaging and irreversible effects of radio active waste

    Posted 5 years ago by TTs Take · Reply

    • Where is the evidence of danger? Show me..

      Posted 5 years ago by Cheng long lu · Reply

  • Hello Arvernt or whatever, who are you to question the Minister.. Your tone is much to be desired.. You are obviously bias towards Lynas. Why is that? The facts of radio active waste and the irreversible and adverse effects already speak volumes..

    Posted 5 years ago by TTs Take · Reply

  • If Lynas had built a PDF (Permanent Disposal Facility) from day one, as recommended by the IAEA team, they would not be in this predicament today. As it is, there is no PDF in existence (after 6 long years), their nonsense about turning wastes into "Condisoil" for sale to the public does not work anymore, Australia will not take in any of the wastes which contains radioactive thorium and radioactive uranium. So what to do to
    delay the inevitable but to engage in more propaganda ?

    Posted 5 years ago by Kai Lit Phua · Reply

  • YB Minister and the Govt of Malaysia should order an immediate investigation into why a FOSL (Full Operating Stage License) was granted, by the previous regime, after the 2-year TOL (Temporary Operating License) in spite of non-fulfillment of terms and conditions, and also investigate if any environmental health and occupational health laws have been broken by Lynas.

    Posted 5 years ago by Kai Lit Phua · Reply

    • Actually Lynas has been reviewed many times. Nothing of concern noted.

      Posted 5 years ago by Cheng long lu · Reply

  • This young fler has tremendous potential... as a corporate pr shill or politician-on-the-take! Hard to believe anyone could possibly be in favor of polluting industries.

    Posted 5 years ago by Antares Maitreya · Reply

    • You mean oil palm, tobacco, coal, bauxite, oil and gas industries?

      Posted 5 years ago by Cheng long lu · Reply

  • The Minister of Science should base her decisions on science, not lies and gutter politics. Lynas has been operating for several years, where is this dangerous radioactive waste? All we see is numerous scientific reviews all confirming the stuff Lynas deals with is low risk. Do not be fooled by politicians. The only thing toxic in all this are lies and slanders by our politicians.

    Posted 5 years ago by Kayden Lo · Reply

  • The wrong thing is as explained above that there are other more options available. Recycling and PDF should be considered first as agreed onto prior to lynas setting up the site.
    Minister must always make proper and sound judgement based on facts.

    Once in Australia when we have a senator that said Australia is been swamped by asians. Next thing you know is that racism increased and asian restaurants are fire bombed. Now the same politician have no problems with the Asians but now is targeting the Muslims.

    Minister has a duty of care and should always provide their judgements with facts.

    Posted 5 years ago by Darren Chai · Reply

  • Good article. We need more people to speak based on facts. The issue is not Lynas vs Malaysia where supposedly you are patriotic if you oppose Lynas. The issue is actually science vs politic. Scientists have consistently stated that Lynas is low risk but our politicians including our Minister said otherwise. So who to believe? I urge fellow Malaysians to be neutral in assessing this issue. Don't just listen to argument from one side. Listen also to independent experts, Lynas CEO, their employees and etc. Then honestly ask yourself who is more credible.

    Posted 5 years ago by Cheng long lu · Reply

  • Radioactive waste is not for a few years, but for millions of years. No one can predict what will happen during those years. Better to be on the safe side and have nothing to do with storing radioactive waste, even in so called "proper" ways. In the first place, why did Lynas not build the plant in Australia? It did not make sense for the Australians to do so, but it made sense to export it to another place!

    Posted 5 years ago by Ravinder Singh · Reply

    • As explained the radioactive waste are of very low dosage and they do not pose a threat. The background radiation in most Malaysian areas have a higher level of radiation.
      To date we have no data that shows low level radiation causes any forms of genetic abnormalities. That is why we rely on the experts for their opinions.

      Current studies do show some benefits from low level of radiation. There are lots of articles around. So do read up.

      Posted 5 years ago by Darren Chai · Reply

    • Don't worry. There is actually no radioactive waste like from nuclear power plant, just some low level radiation residue from a chemical factory. Australia actually did not reject Lynas. Lynas actually chose to invest in Malaysia. It's nothing unusual. We used to be one of the Asian Tigers. Many foreign companies opened their factory in Malaysia.

      Posted 5 years ago by Cheng long lu · Reply

  • When all else fails, Lynas can and has promised to remove its waste post-haste.

    Is there something that the writer knows that most of us doesnt know for speaking as though he some shares or interest in Lynas? Since Lynas has shown that it is unable to keep to its promise to remove the wastes as per its commitment to the government and public, who are we to trust this writer?

    Posted 5 years ago by Rupert Lum · Reply

  • Obviously a paid writer. Lynas monies are everywhere.

    Posted 5 years ago by Kok shin SHAN · Reply

  • ---AUSTRALIA DUMPING RADIOACTIVE WASTE INTO MALAYSIA?


    Anti Lynas MP demanded that Lynas should send all the waste back to the Mount Weld Mine in Australia.

    The waste from the mine or gangue (tailings consisting of useless rocks, sand and other materials) have already been returned to the mine!

    What happens is that the ore that Lynas mined has been processed and refined and the tailings or gangue which consist of 73% of the ore, are removed and sent back to the mine.

    Lynas process 240,000 tonnes per annum of ore to produce 66,000 tonnes of concentrate and the 170,000 tonnes of WASTE has already been SENT BACK TO THE MINE.

    So this part of the demand has already been fulfilled.

    After the processing, the valuable concentrate consists of Phosphate Fertilizers with a good content of Rare Earth Phosphates are sent to Malaysia to separate the rare earths from the Phosphate Fertilizers.

    The process of concentrating the ore has also concentrated the Thorium 232 to a content of only 6 Bq/g.

    In Australia, the Thorium was concentrated by removing the soil. So it is legitimate that we can put the soil back in Malaysia to take it back to its natural state. In fact this process of dilution by blending of a NORM so as to make it fit to be recycled has been encouraged by
    - European Atomic Energy Community,
    - Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations,
    - International Atomic Energy Agency,
    - International Labour Organisation,
    - International Maritime Organisation,
    - OECD Nuclear Energy Agency,
    - Pan American Health Organisation,
    - United Nations Environment Programme, and.
    - World Health Organisation.

    All the advanced countries like the USA, UK, Canada, France, Japan and Australia ALLOWS and FOLLOWS this basic safety principle of World Health Organisation, International Labour Organisation and other reputable international organisations.

    Any NORM (Naturally Occurring Material) with an activity of 10 Bq/g or less is considered to be non-radioactive for transportation purposes with no restrictions in all the advanced countries but in Malaysia the level of activity is fixed at a miserable 1 Bq/g because the Malaysian regulations are outdated and is based on the obsolete 1985 IAEA transport recommendation.

    So we have the rather comical situation where the concentrate is treated as nonradioactive in Australia and magically becomes radioactive as the ship enters Malaysian waters.

    In Malaysia, the rare earths are separated from the valuable fertilizer called WLP.

    WLP consist of (according to the EIA by the Malaysian government):

    Phosphorus Oxide 19.77%

    Iron Oxide 19.74%

    Aluminium Oxide 2.86%

    Calcium Oxide 1.36%

    Magnesium Oxide 0.03%

    Manganese Oxide 0.37%

    Barium Oxide 0.3%

    Zinc 0.1%

    Strontium Oxide 0.4%

    Thorium Oxide 1665 ppm

    Uranium Oxide 22.5 ppm

    And NO NICKEL OR CHROMIUM.

    The WLP, like all the almost 3 million tons per year of imported radioactive phosphate and radioactive Potassium fertilizers which cost Malaysia millions of Dollars, is only slightly radioactive with an activity of 6 Bq/g.

    Anti Lynas MP also claimed that there are over 800 tons of Thorium accumulated in the Lynas WLP residue.

    Malaysian soil has an average of 82 Bq/Kg or 20 ppm of Thorium (IAEA).

    Lynas has a land area of 100 hectares or 1,000 metres by 1,000 metres and if we consider the soil of specific gravity of 2.5 up to 1,000 metre deep, we would come with 50,000 tons of Thorium.

    If there are 50,000 tons of Thorium under Lynas and owned by the people of Malaysia, why fuss about the 800 tons of Thorium on top of Lynas?

    Because the government refuses to allow Lynas to sell its valuable phosphate rich fertilizers, a large pile of these fertilizers are left idle WHILE WE SPEND HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS OF OUR VALUABLE FOREIGN EXCHANGE JUST TO IMPORT THE THREE MILLION TONS PER YEAR OF RADIOACTIVE PHOSPHATES AND RADIOACTIVE POTASSIUM!



    Dato Dr H.W. Looi FAMM

    Posted 5 years ago by Harold Looi · Reply

  • It is sad to see the argument of why dont you built your plant in Australia and do not contaminate Malaysia. The fact is that labor costs are high in Australia. There are a lot of natural resources in Australia and not many processing plants.

    For example, it is cheaper to dig up the iron ore from Australia, shipped it to China, processed it in China and shipped it back here, then to have the iron ore processed here.

    This is a golden opportunity for Malaysia to have one of the worlds most advance rare earth processing plant. There can be unlimited benefits that can arise from this (electric cars, etc) but I fear the damage is done.

    For your information, there is another rare earth company that has decided to stay in Australia after all this debacle. They are willing to pay a much higher costs for setting this up than having to go through this. A lithium company as well has decided to stay in Australia building a billion dollar plant.

    Do not blame lynas but your own government in asking them to be here in the first place. Honor you commitment and if they comply with everyone of your regulations then they are doing a fantastic job.

    With all the experts looking through the plant with a microscope, you can be sure the plant is safe.

    Posted 5 years ago by Darren Chai · Reply