Anwar: Room for improvement on Lynas terms, more talks needed
PKR president Anwar Ibrahim is calling for more negotiations and review on the government’s recent decision to extend Lynas’ operating licence by six months.
“I am supporting attempts to seek rapport with the government to call for a review of the decision (on Lynas)...
PKR president Anwar Ibrahim is calling for more negotiations and review on the government’s recent decision to extend Lynas’ operating licence by six months.
“I am supporting attempts to seek rapport with the government to call for a review of the decision (on Lynas).
“But I think it should be done amicably through meaningful, effective negotiations [...],” he said during a press conference in Cheras this evening.
Asked if he believed the three conditions imposed on the Australian rare earth mining company could be improved, Anwar agreed.
“I believe we can. They should allow (and) open up for the negotiations to continue to take place,” he said.
Last week, Putrajaya agreed to allow Lynas to continue running its rare earth processing plant in Gebeng, Kuantan for six months beyond its original licence expiry date in September.
It also listed terms that demanded the factory curb its radioactive waste production within four years from the granted extension date.
One of it was to halt all research and development activities into repurposing radioactive water leach purification (WLP) residue into a soil conditioner called “Condisoil”.
The company also needs to hand over 0.5 percent of its gross sales revenue to the Malaysian government as “collateral” until its overseas cracking and leaching (C&L) facility is built and operational.
Another condition is that the company must submit its plan for building its overseas C&L facility, and the facility needs to be completed within four years. After that, Lynas will no longer be allowed to produce radioactive waste beyond one Becquerel/gram in its Gebeng plant.
The final condition is that Lynas needs to determine a local site for its permanent disposal facility (PDF) and produce written permission from the state government governing the site.
It also needs to show detailed building and financial plans for building and operating the facility.
Should it fail to find a local site, Lynas will need to produce official permission for it to transport WLP waste overseas.
Lynas has since responded to the government’s conditions, saying that it is confident of fulfilling them.
Despite these conditions, anti-Lynas activists and even government MPs like Wong Tack (Bentong) and Fuziah Salleh (Kuantan) maintained their opposition to the facility’s operations in Malaysia.
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