Why lynas chose malaysia

A major part of the concern, brought up frequently by the opposition, stems from the history of the Bukit Merah plant, which was an accident ready to happen, and it did. This reporter visited the plant in the s to witness open drains being eaten away by corrosive materials.

The operators had bulldozed two or three football field-sized trenches to hold the low-grade nuclear waste, then covered the walls with shotcrete or gunite.

It was possible to peel the gunite off the walls with one's fingers, hardly inspiring confidence that the facility would hold nuclear materials for the recommended years before their radiation deteriorated. In this case, Lynas says it has permission from the Malaysian government to store the material onsite in Malaysia and that the waste produces uniquely low levels of radiation.

The Pahang authorities are banking on the plant as a part of efforts to turn the region into an east-coast industrial hub. Malaysia in identified Kuantan as a future focal point for trade, commerce, transportation and tourism due to its location on the South China Sea. The government has sited a petroleum manufacturing area in Pekan, a neighboring town, and is seeking to allocate funds to enhance industrial growth. Indeed, Lynas says it chose the Pahang site because of its proximity to the Kuantan port, the availability of gas, water and chemical supplies and the availability of skilled workers.

It should be a considerable benefit for the Kuantan area if the safety concerns can be met. Worldwide demand is increasing rapidly at a time when China has a virtual lock on rare earth metals. Nonetheless, 2, tonnes of radioactive waste are expected to be produced by the plant annually. As with the Bukit Merah plant, that has raised the storm of health and safety concerns.

NIMBY—"not in my backyard" — is a watchword in Malaysia now, along with nationalistic concerns over rich-nation dumping of its environmental problems overseas. The Federation of Malaysian Consumer Associations is demanding that no thorium -- a major problem at the Bukit Merah site — be stored in the country.

Lynas has answered that it would seek to recycle as much of the thorium as possible although in an earlier statement it said it had permission from the government "to store it onsite, safely, forever" if its recycling plans prove not to be commercial, a fact that the Western Australia government has now made an imperative.

Lynas says it expects no delay to its plans to begin operations in September as it maintains the plant is safe despite the uncertain political situation. The company says it anticipates a windfall of RM8 billion a year from onwards from the rare earth metals it is scheduled to produce, and Kuantan authorities — not to mention the federal government in Kuala Lumpur and a world anticipating a new source of rare metals — are eager for that to happen. But they are likely to have to wait after elections first.

Click the link we sent to , or click here to log in. Asia Sentinel Subscribe Sign in. He points out that there is still no clear plan for the final disposal of the processed waste. The refinery lies next to a forested river, which empties into the South China Sea, where Malaysian fishermen still fish for a living. Lynas may be unlucky, in that its rare-earths project has caught the imagination of a Malaysian public accustomed for many years to keeping quiet about sensitive issues.

In the past the government has used harsh security and defamation laws to imprison some of those who spoke out against alleged abuses. People are still often reluctant to talk about what they call 'government issues'. But opposition to the Barisan Nasional coalition that has governed Malaysia since independence is growing; there is a real possibility that it will lose power for the first time in the general election which must be held by June next year.

Opposition parties have jumped on the Lynas refinery as an issue which could weaken support for the government. The campaign against it has been organized through the internet and social networking sites. Lynas has staked everything on the success of its Malaysian venture, and is unlikely to give up, even if there are repeated delays.

But it urgently needs to start processing and selling rare earths, to generate revenue. The Malaysian government's bid to attract new foreign investment to sustain its economic growth would also be hurt if the Lynas project is blocked. Those arguments have little impact on local sentiment. As one young woman told me, "This is our home. If it does get polluted, where will we go? Court delays rare earth verdict. Malaysia protest over rare earths. Lynas shares up on Malaysia move. Many Malaysians are angry about plans to operate a rare earth refinery, which they fear could cause much damage.

We don't send it back. The fate of Lynas in Malaysia is being keenly watched around the world amid concerns rare earth materials could become a bargaining chip in the ongoing US-China trade war.

In , the Chinese supply of rare earths to Japan suddenly stopped for two months following a territorial dispute over Japan's claim to the Senkaku Islands, which angered China. The construction of the Lynas plant in Malaysia was largely funded in by Japan, which needed a reliable supply of rare earths. China currently holds a near-monopoly on the production of rare earth minerals , with Lynas producing about 13 per cent of global supply.

Editor's note: This story was amended on August 22 to correct a caption that claimed to show radioactive waste at the Lynas plant that was in fact the non-radioactive by-product NUF, and a caption that stated Lynas operates a mine in Malaysia. It does not. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn, and work.

Key points: Malaysia has renewed the rare earth plant licence of Australian company Lynas Green groups say Lynas' activities pose a threat to the local environment Lynas says it will meet the licence obligations set by Malaysia's Government.

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