Rare Earths Miner Lynas Finally Meets Malaysian TOL Requirements, Submits Plan for Permanent Disposal Facility

Close to a year after it finally received the temporary operating license needed to fire up its rare earths processing plant in Malaysia, Australian miner Lynas Corp has finally submitted its plans for a permanent disposal facility (PDF). This could essentially serve as one of the remaining requirements needed to secure a permanent license to operate the plant.

This week, various Malaysian media outlets reported the country's Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MoSTI) has received a submission from Lynas as to where it plans to create the permanent disposal facility for its toxic and radioactive waste. However, the ministry refused to disclose the locations the rare earths miner were targeting.

Rare earth elements or rare earth metals is a collection of seventeen chemical elements in the periodic table, namely scandium, yttrium, and the fifteen lanthanides. Scandium and yttrium are considered rare earths since they tend to occur in the same ore deposits as the lanthanides and exhibit similar chemical properties.

"We have identified several locations but we cannot make the announcement now as it is not finalized," Datuk Ewon Ebin, MoSTI Minister, said.

"Lynas submitted the plan and proposals for PDF and they are being examined by the Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) whether all conditions are complete."

Lynas' Malaysian facility refines ore concentrate for rare earth metals which will be used to produce catalysts, nickel metal hydride batteries and permanent magnets. These are highly essential in manufacturing a number of emerging key- and future-technologies.

Lynas officially started the operations of the rare earths processing plant in Gebeng, Kuantan in Malaysia in November 2012. It is touted as the world's biggest outside China, the world's stronghold of rare earths, where more than 95 per cent are produced.