Lynas Rare Earths has filed two judicial review proceedings before the High Court of Malaya, seeking review of the Malaysian operating license conditions that prohibit the processing of lanthanide concentrate.
The current license conditions on the company’s Malaysian operations prohibit the import and processing of lanthanide, which will require the closure of the cracking and leaching component of the company’s Malaysia plant.
Lynas said it appealed the conditions on the basis that they represent a significant variation from the conditions under which it made the initial decision to invest in Malaysia.
In May, the company was granted a six month extension processing lanthanide concentrate, effectively plugging the gap in the company’s rare earth supply.
This six month extension allows Lynas to process lanthanide until 1 January 2024, replacing the early deadline of July 1 2023.
“The conditions do not follow the recommendations of the Malaysian Government’s 2018 Executive Review Committee report on Lynas Malaysia’s operations, the Atomic Energy Licencing Board’s own audits of Lynas Malaysia’s operations or any of the other three prior independent expert scientific reviews of Lynas Malaysia’s operations,” the company said in a statement.
“Lynas has made significant investments in its Malaysian facility and will seek review through these legal processes in respect of the licence conditions that have been imposed to ensure that Lynas is treated fairly and equitably as a foreign direct investor and as a significant employer and contributor to the Malaysian economy.”
Lynas has been racing to ramp up its Kalgoorlie rare earths processing facility which, when complete, will undertake the cracking and leaching of rare earths before sending the intermediate product to Malaysia.