Apparently irked to the brim over the misplaced information and emotional blackmail being fed to the locals where its Lynas Advance Materials Plant (LAMP) is located, Australian rare earths miner Lynas Corp. had upped its arms and taken legal action against a protest group as well as a number of media outlets in Malaysia.

In its recently released March quarterly report, Lynas Corp. said it had lodged defamation proceedings in the Malaysian legal system against independent media outlet Free Malaysia Today, as well as the Save Malaysia Stop Lynas group.

"The proceedings relate to various false and misleading statements that have been published in Malaysia concerning Lynas and its business," the rare earths producer, whose LAMP facility in Gebeng, Kuantan is already 98 per cent done under phase one construction, said.

Nick Curtis, chief executive of Lynas Corp., said some recent claims had crossed the line between debate and defamation.

''The specific comments we won't go into but they are, in our opinion and our legal opinion, targeted and defamatory and those comments should be shut down,'' he said in The Age.

''What we are hoping to achieve is clarity that the debate about Lynas's plant in Malaysia must be based on fact and the real issues,'' he added.

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

In the same March quarterly report, Lynas Corp. confirmed it is on track for first feed to kiln in the second quarter, pending issuance of the TOL. More than 85 per cent of pre-commissioning test-packs are also complete, it added.

Meanwhile, the rare earth miner's Western Australia operations continue to perform to expectations, the company said. At the end of the three months to March 31, the Mount Weld operations had bagged 4,029 tonnes of rare earth oxide and are ready for export, Lynas Corp. said.

Moreover, Lynas Corp. reported the mineral resource estimate at the Mount Weld project has been increased to 23.9-million tons, at an average grade of 7.9 per cent rare earth ore, following an extension drilling programme last year. The project is estimated to host some 1.9-million tons of rare-earth ore.

The recent results showed a 37 per cent increase on the previous estimate as well as a 34 per cent increase in the contained rare-earth ore.

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