Lynas Rare Earths asks Malaysia court to review license (updated)

Ionic Rare Earths

26/07/2023 09:15

(Updates with detail on judicial review, context on plant in
Malaysia)
       July 26 (Reuters) - Lynas Rare Earths Ltd  LYC.AX  said
on Wednesday it had approached Malaysia's top court to review
its license to operate in the country, which has a condition
that bars the miner from importing and processing lanthanide
concentrate from January.
    The Australian company's application comes after the
Malaysian minister of science and technology dismissed the
company's appeals to scrap the condition a few months back.
    "The license conditions which limit operations at the Lynas
Malaysia facility represent a significant variation from the
conditions under which Lynas made the initial decision to invest
in Malaysia," the miner said.
    "The judicial review proceedings now commenced seek review
of the MOSTI (Minister of the Ministry of Science, Technology
and Innovation) minister's decisions to dismiss both of Lynas'
appeals."
    Lynas, the world's biggest producer of rare earths outside
China, would have to shutter the cracking and leaching part of
its rare earths processing plant in Malaysia if the conditions
are not removed by 2024.
    That, in turn, could interrupt the supply of neodymium and
praseodymium (NdPr), used in magnets as crucial components of
everything from iPhones to weapons systems.
    While Malaysia's government has raised concerns about the
radiation levels from cracking and leaching, Lynas has furnished
two reviews by the International Atomic Energy Agency that found
the plant to be low risk and compliant with regulations.

 (Reporting by Sameer Manekar in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio
D'Souza)
 ((Sameer.Manekar@thomsonreuters.com; Twitter: https://twitter.com/sameer_manekar))