KOTA BARU, July 9 – The Kelantan government will expedite the exploration of non-radioactive rare earth elements (NR-REE) to enable the processing of these raw materials in Kelantan and to generate profit for the state.

Deputy Menteri Besar Datuk Dr Mohamed Fadzli Hassan said several companies from China had shown interest in processing NR-REE.

"The state government wants NR-REE to be processed in Kelantan to secure greater profits compared to processing in China, and we will discuss this matter with the Chinese companies.

"As we all know, Kelantan has received permission from the federal government to explore NR-REE, but it requires guidelines and standard operating procedures,” he said at the Strategic Minerals Symposium - Rare Earth Elements 2024 here yesterday.

Elaborating further, Mohamed Fadzli said Kelantan is the second most abundant state in terms of NR-REE, estimated to be worth RM125 billion out of more than RM700 billion available in the country.

"Although the federal government has not yet permitted the export of NR-REE except for a pilot project in Mukim Kenering, we hope this issue will be resolved.

"We will try to find the best way forward because we (Kelantan) cannot precede the federal government,” he added. — Bernama