The Malaysian government continues to uphold Australian miner Lynas Corp., and its beleaguered Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP) after it directed the company to move its proposed residue disposal facility to a site far from the LAMP location in Gebeng, Kuantan province.

Malaysian news agencies reported over the weekend it was Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak who specifically ordered the rare earths miner to find an alternative location for its residue disposal facility that is away from Gebeng and its residential communities.

This could give Lynas a winning edge over its detractors who have turned the business investment into a political mill.

The Lynas plant would remain at its present location, Mr Najib was quoted as saying by www.asiaone.com. The new location of the residue disposal facility would be announced later.

"The location of the waste disposal site is still being determined, but it is going to be far away," Mr Najib said. But he clarified the relocation to a far off site does not correlate that the $200-million rare earths processing plant project, along with its residue, were harmful.

"Scientific evidence endorsed by local and international experts had shown the plant and rare earth residue are safe...But we are also aware this issue has caused emotional and psychological concern among the people and that it has been politically exploited," Mr Najib said.

Residents of Gebeng, where the almost finished LAMP facility is located, had been protesting since the start of the presence of the rare earths processing plant project on fears of health and environmental concerns.

"Scientifically speaking, it (the residue) would have a lower radiation level than the iron oxides being transported all over the country every day," Raja Datuk Abdul Aziz Raja Adnan, director general of the Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) of Malaysia, had said earlier.

But politics, more so that it is Malaysia's national elections year, all the more mired the issues between Lynas Corp. and the Gebeng residents. Malaysian scientific experts had come to the rescue of Lynas Corp. last week, saying the Gebeng residents and the entire Malaysia public had been duped to believe the wrong information fed by people who know minimal about the effects of the LAMP facility.

The Lynas plant is not a nuclear plant, but only a chemical plant, Malaysian scientific experts said, noting whatever radiation present in the plant was still less compared to that of an ore mine.

On Feb. 17, Gebeng residents filed a case against Lynas Corp., as well as an application for leave for judicial review, over the temporary operating licence it received from the AELB and the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry (Mosti) issued end January.

The High Court Apellate and Special Powers Judge Justice Rohana Yusuf had scheduled Mar. 20 as initial hearing.

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