Minister to head to Australia to discuss Lynas issue
Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Minister Yeo Bee Yin will head to Australia to discuss the Lynas issue, according to a ministry representative.
Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said yesterday the controversial rare earth processing plant would be allowed to continue operating in Gebeng, Pahang...
Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Minister Yeo Bee Yin will head to Australia to discuss the Lynas issue, according to a ministry representative.
Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said yesterday the controversial rare earth processing plant would be allowed to continue operating in Gebeng, Pahang.
Ministry deputy secretary-general Nagulendran Kangayatkarasu (photo above, on the right) said the minister will meet with her Australian counterpart to discuss the conditions for Lynas' operations and waste management.
He said the minister will meet with her counterpart after the Australian cabinet is sworn in, following the recently concluded Australian election.
"We are not against rare earth (which) is an important commodity in Industry 4.0 and moving towards green technology," he told reporters in Bangi today.
"It's just the waste (that is the issue)... so the minister is planning to go down (to Australia) to meet her counterpart and to talk about how best to manage the waste coming out of the Gebeng plant.
"We are waiting for them to come back to us (on the date)," Nagulendran said.
Prior to the Australian election, Canberra had rejected Putrajaya's bid to return waste produced by the Lynas plant to Australia.
Yeo wanted Lynas to export its waste, particularly the water leach purification (WLP) residue, as a condition for renewing its operating licence.
The rare earth ore originates from Western Australia.
The Lynas facility produces two kinds of wastes, the radioactive WLP residue and non-radioactive neutralisation underflow (NUF).
Up to December last year, the accumulated WLP residue at Lynas' facility was 451,564 tonnes, while the NUF waste amounted to 1.113 million tonnes.
Lynas has sought to turn the NUF into commercial products, but pilot studies found that its use as fertiliser led to elevated levels of heavy metal in produce, albeit still within permissible levels.
In a statement today, Kuantan MP Fuziah Salleh (photo, above) said she holds to the ministry’s condition that Lynas must ship its wastes back to Australia as a pre-condition for its licence renewal.
“So far, there is no solution to the issue of the Lynas plant wastes and it is important that people do not forget the issue (of the wastes) as it is central in the decision on the licensing and operations of Lynas plant in the future.
“... I also understand that she (Yeo) will go to Australia in mid-June 2019 to negotiate on the return of the radioactive waste materials from the factory.
“I feel Malaysians should give her the space to seek a solution to realise that condition, as the people should also pressure Lynas to take responsibility for its radioactive wastes, without compromise,” Fuziah said in her statement.
She said it did not matter if the previous BN government had been duped into “believing Lynas’ narrative” when approving the deal back in 2012, or had the former had only thought of profit, but the reality was that it was up to the current government to seek a solution.
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