KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 17 — Lynas Malaysia has filed an appeal to Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Chang Lih Kang to review the conditions that will allow it to operate as it has done in the country after July 1.
Its parent company Lynas Rare Earths informed the Australian Securities Exchange in a filing yesterday that its wholly owned Malaysian subsidiary is seeking the minister’s aid to reverse the conditions imposed last month by the local atomic energy regulator as part of its three-year licence renewal.
“Lynas advises that wholly-owned subsidiary Lynas Malaysia has appealed to the Minister of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation under the Atomic Energy Licence Act 1984 seeking administrative review of the decision of the Atomic Energy Licencing Board (AELB) in failing to consider Lynas’ application for the removal of the licence conditions prohibiting the import and processing of lanthanide concentrate after 1 July 2023,” it said in the brief statement.
It did not disclose the date the appeal was filed.
Earlier this week, Chang confirmed that the AELB – which is under his ministry – had given a conditional renewal to Lynas Malaysia for the next three years starting March 3 this year to March 3, 2026.
The conditions include cracking and leaching activities, the generation of water leach purification residues, and the importation of lanthanide concentrates from Australia.
He said the conditions were aimed to prevent the recurrence of another radioactive waste disaster in the country, and that Lynas must follow these conditions by July or its licence will be revoked but that the company would have 60 days to file an appeal.
Residents in Perak in the 1980s had suffered the effects of a radioactive pollution – that included cancer and birth defects – said to be from the mining of rare earths in Bukit Merah that was operated by Japanese giant Mitsubishi Chemicals until it closed in 1994.
