RARE earth processor Lynas today said it was committed to reducing radioactivity from material mined in Australia before shipment to Malaysia for processing. 

Lynas Malaysia Sdn Bhd managing director and vice-president Mashal Ahmad said this was in response to statements by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and the company would undertake to relocate this process to Australia over the next five years.

“We have identified two potential processing sites which are close to our mine in Western Australia, and the government and local communities are supportive. 

“Once the new plant is operational, the material shipped to Malaysia for processing would not include naturally occurring radioactive material,” Mashal said in a statement today.

Dr Mahathir in early April had said that Lynas could continue operations at its rare earth processing plant in Gebeng, Kuantan, with additional conditions that included reducing radioactive levels of raw materials brought into the country and to the plant.

Mashal said this process, called cracking and leaching, would remove “low level, naturally occurring radioactive” material from rare earths.

“We have listened to the Prime Minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, and we understand that Malaysia would prefer that our first stage processing takes place before our material is shipped to Malaysia for further processing,” he said.

As one-third of employees at the Lynas plant worked in cracking and leaching, Mashal said with the relocation of this process to Australia, the company would invest in “additional downstream processing” to ensure that employees continued to have jobs.

He said these changes to the plant’s operations would cost around RM1.5 billion.

Mashal added that Lyas was still working with the government on a solution to the water leached purification (WLP) residue, to either remove such waste to a permanent deposit facility or to reuse it in a safe manner. 

Waste removal had been a sticking point for Lynas to obtain renewal of its operating license, due in September. 

However, Dr Mahathir had said the plant should be allowed to continue as Malaysia did not want to lose an important investment. –  June 24, 2019.