[UPDATED] Lynas agreed to place cracking, leaching facility outside M’sia: Yeo

KUALA LUMPUR – Lynas had previously agreed to locate its cracking and leaching (C&L) facility outside of Malaysia as a condition for its operating permit here, said former minister Yeo Bee Yin who has questioned the rare earth mining company’s latest outcry against the requirement imposed by the government.

Four years ago, after the government imposed the removal of Lynas’ radioactive waste from Malaysia as a pre-condition for its licence renewal, the firm announced that they were able to satisfy the conditions imposed, Yeo said

“(They said that) they would build their C&L facilities in Kalgoorie, Australia.

“Three years later, from its series of recent statements, Lynas is again fighting very hard to be escaped from the condition imposed on them and that they had announced ‘to be able to satisfy’ in 2020,” the Puchong MP said in a statement today.

Yeo, who was energy, science, technology, environment & climate change minister from 2018 to 2020, said she supported the current government’s decision to stand its ground and continue imposing the condition that the C&L process which produces radioactive waste, be removed completely from Malaysia by July this year.

Lynas recently received a three-year extension on the operating permit for its plant in Gebeng, Kuantan, with conditions imposed that means the Australian miner’s appeal for the removal of certain requirements was rejected.

These are in relation to the management of radioactive waste in Malaysia, whereby Lynas can only conduct C&L activities in Australia.

“The government’s decision to stand its ground and continue imposing the condition of C&L process removal on Lynas by July 2023, despite intense lobbying from many fronts, is the right move,” Yeo said.

She also noted that Lynas’ C&L facilities in Kalgoorlie are nearing completion, and claimed Lynas was wanting to run operations in both Malaysia and Australia to maximise its profits.

“Lynas profit for the financial year 2022 was AU$540 million (RM1.6 billion) while the C&L facilities construction cost in Kalgoorie is estimated at AU$575 million.

“In other words, Lynas can fund the entire facility with just one year of profit. And yes, they are still enjoying 12 years of tax exemption,” Yeo said.

“Can a company in any country decide for themselves what they need to comply and what they don’t according to their own liking and interest? 

“In the name of economy and geopolitics, can a company be allowed to be off the hook from their written commitment not once but twice in a dignified country?,” she added.

With the permit renewal, the Gebeng plant can operate until March 2026 on other parts of rare earth processing.

Lynas has said previously that reviews by the International Atomic Energy Agency have found the waste produced from C&L to be low-risk.

However, Science, Technology, and Innovation Minister Chang Lih Kang yesterday when announcing the permit renewal said the condition is not to produce any radioactive waste at all, in Malaysia.

The plant in Gebeng had been opposed by Pakatan Harapan politicians ahead of the 2018 general election. 

After the coalition won the polls and took federal power that year, then prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad renewed the plant’s licence with conditions, citing the need to preserve investments in the country. – The Vibes, February 17, 2023