The Malaysian High Court has scheduled to hear in mid June the injunction application filed by Australian miner Lynas Corp. and its subsidiary Lynas Malaysia Sdn Bhd against independent media outlet Free Malaysia Today (FMT) and protest group Save Malaysia Stop Lynas (SMSL) group.

The Australian rare earths producer lodged in mid April separate defamation proceedings in the Malaysian legal system against FMT and SMSL on account of the defamatory articles published on their online news portal and blog site, respectively.

Lynas Corp. filed the injunction application to prohibit the two parties from further publishing defamatory articles on the company as well as on its beleaguered Lynas Advance Materials Plant (LAMP) facility in Gebeng, Kuantan. It also seeks general damages and aggravated damages and costs.

The hearing on the injunction application against FMT will be heard on June 12, while SMSL will be on June 19.

The rare earths miner legal action against the two Malaysian entities because some of their claims had crossed the line between debate and defamation, it earlier said.

Lynas Corp. and its LAMP facility had been under fire since February 2012 when the Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) of Malaysia granted the coveted two-year temporary operating licence (TOL) needed to officially jumpstart the plant's operation in Kuantan. But the TOL has been challenged by protests groups, environmentalists as well as Malaysian political wannabes, to the extent of applying to the Malaysian High Court for leave to apply for a judicial review of AELB's approval decision.

Although Lynas Malaysia Sdn Bhd did admit the LAMP facility will emit some radiation, "the amount is minimal and not harmful," Professor Ismail Bahari, radiology safety adviser for the Malaysian Lynas subsidiary, earlier said.

"In terms of safety, the plant is safe and Lynas will ensure it remains so... radiation from the rare earths factory would be low and would not have an adverse impact on the local residents."

Mr Bahari also said the LAMP rare earths facility was not even classified as a major hazard under the Control of Industrial Major Accident Hazards, noting the confirmations the plant received from the Atomic Energy Licensing Board as well as from the Malaysian departments of Environment and, Occupational Safety and Health.

Even international experts on the rare earths sector commended on the construction of the plant.

"I have seen a lot of rare earths separation plants and I would put this at the top of the list comparable with one state-of-the-art plant that I have seen in France," Alastair S. Neill, a Canadian rare earths expert and vice president of Dacha Strategic Metals, said in Bernama News.

Lynas Corp.'s LAMP facility, meant to challenge China's dominance in the rare earths sector, is already 98 per cent done under phase one construction. It would supply about 11,000 tonnes in its first year, eventually rising to 22,000 tonnes. Its operation has been delayed by eight months.

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Lynas Takes Arms, Brings to Court Malaysian Opponents