Malaysia postpones meeting with Australia on Lynas waste
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Australia-listed Lynas, the only significant producer of rare earths outside of China, is waiting on renewal of the operating licence for its US$800 million (S$1.1 billion) Malaysian processing plant.
PHOTO: REUTERS
KUALA LUMPUR (REUTERS) - Malaysia's energy and environment minister has delayed a visit to Australia to discuss rare earth miner Lynas Corp's storage of radioactive waste from its Kuantan plant, according to a ministry spokesman.
The trip, initially scheduled for this week, has been postponed "pending further developments", the spokesman said on Wednesday (June 19).
Minister Yeo Bee Yin was due to meet Mr Bill Johnston, Western Australia state's minister for mines, on Thursday to discuss the removal of the radioactive waste from Malaysia.
Mr Johnston said Western Australia will not accept the waste, Australian media reported earlier this month.
Australia-listed Lynas, the only significant producer of rare earths outside of China, is waiting on renewal of the operating licence for its US$800 million (S$1.1 billion) Malaysian processing plant. The licence expires in September.
Malaysia's environment ministry set conditions in December for Lynas to remove its waste stockpiles before it would renew its operating licence.
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said last month that Lynas will be allowed to keep operating in Malaysia.
The Malaysian environment ministry has said it wants to discuss ways to manage the low-level radioactive residue produced by Lynas at its rare earth processing plant.
