KUALA LUMPUR – Rare earth mining firm Lynas Malaysia claims that it is being “targeted” by Putrajaya over radioactive waste concerns despite the company being regulated by a government agency.
In a joint statement issued by the firm today, the group’s radiation safety general manager Dr Ismail Bahari lamented the apparent attack by Science, Technology, and Innovation Minister Chang Lih Kang during a press conference yesterday.
Ismail also said that several reviews, including one by a former Pakatan Harapan (PH) minister, had found Lynas to be “low-risk”.
“We do not understand why Lynas has been singled out by (Chang) when the Atomic Energy Department regulates many companies in Malaysia who, like Lynas, process minerals containing naturally occurring radioactive material and manage the resulting residues.
“Four scientific reviews, including two reviews by the International Atomic Energy Agency and former PH minister Yeo Bee Yin’s 2018 executive review committee (ERC), have found Lynas to be low-risk and compliant with regulation.
“The PH ERC did not recommend the closure of the cracking and leaching plant,” he said.
Yeo was the energy, science, technology, environment and climate change minister during PH’s stint as the federal government in 2018.
Yesterday, Chang said that Lynas will have to adhere to strict conditions imposed to ensure safe operations after the government granted a three-year extension for the company to operate in Gebeng, Pahang.
Chang, who reiterated that based on the terms, Lynas is to conduct cracking and leeching activities in Australia, reportedly said: “...no one has the right to continuously produce radioactive waste in Malaysia.”
He also said that the government had rejected Lynas’ request on cracking and leaching activity, waste generation of water leach purification, and the import of lanthanide concentrates from Australia.
In response, Lynas Rare Earths chief executive officer Amanda Lacaze slammed Chang’s note that “there might be some jobs lost” due to the licence conditions. She said that his assertion was “unappreciative of the decision’s effect.”
“The closure of Lynas Malaysia’s cracking and leaching plant will result in the loss of hundreds of direct jobs and thousands more indirectly lost or affected in our communities. Once they are gone, these jobs and intellectual property will be lost to Malaysia forever.
“It is incorrect to suggest that this is a choice between the economy or the environment as evidence of Lynas’ safe operation is clear and validated by four separate reviews by expert scientists,” she said.
Noting that Lynas only seeks to be treated “fairly and equitably as a foreign direct investor,” she highlighted that 99% of employees in the company are Malaysians.
Similarly, Lynas Malaysia plant general manager Amir Abd Hakim Ahmad warned that refusal to remove the condition to close the cracking and leaching plant will put “many of our people at risk financially.”
“In these trying economic times, the Malaysian economy will lose around RM200 million a year from Lynas, (including its) operating expenditure, most of it spent in Pahang,” he said.
The Gebeng plant’s operating licence was set to expire on March 2 this year. – The Vibes, February 16, 2023
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