Australian Lynas Malaysian Rare Earths Plant in Another Legal Battle

In yet another expected twist, Australian rare earths miner Lynas Corp got into another legal battle for its newly operational processing plant in Malaysia.

On Wednesday, the Australian rare earths company announced the plant, its presence, operation and supposed effects to the health of the nearby communities and environment will again be assessed on Friday, Dec. 7, following a court hearing that the activist group Save Malaysia Stop Lynas (SMSL) was able to obtain before the Malaysian Court of Appeal.

SMSL wants the temporary operating license, which rare earths company Lynas was finally able to secure from the Malaysian government in September, suspended while a judicial review on the controversial new refinery is being made.

But Lynas believed the group will present the same arguments, which had been actually denied in earlier court actions.

"Lynas understands that the documents that SMSL will present to the Court of Appeal are substantially similar to the documents that have been presented for recent unsuccessful applications by SMSL, including those to the Kuantan High Court on November 8 and November 14," the company said in a statement.

Although it received the TOL for its Malaysian plant in September, it was only in November that Australian rare earths miner Lynas was able to fire up the start of operations of the plant.

Lynas expects first commercial sales and subsequent cash generation from the $800 million rare earths processing plant, the world's biggest outside China, will occur in the next three to four months.