Antinuclear

“The Malaysian government need to hold Lynas accountable for its massive radioactive waste problems,” said Greenpeace Malaysia Campaigner Heng Kiah Chun at a press conference on Sunday launching the new campaign against Lynas, backed by 88 different non government organisations.

“Lynas has misled Malaysia by giving two undertakings to remove its toxic radioactive waste from Malaysia even though Western Australia had made it clear back in 2011 that its waste would not be accepted back in WA,” said a joint statement from the groups.

Lynas extracts rare earth ores, 17 elements crucial to the manufacture of many hi-tech products like mobile phones, electric cars and wind turbines, from a mine near Perth and then sends the materials to a facility in Malaysia for processing.

There have been signs of renewed tensions within Malaysia’s ruling coalition in recent weeks. In a sign of how divided the government is on Lynas’,  Malaysia’s Natural Resources Minister Dr Xavier Jayakumar announced last week that the government is looking at exploiting the country’s mineral reserves and potentially mining for rare earth minerals itself.

“We are alarmed by these ministers championing Lynas’ corporate profit at the expense of Malaysia’s environment and public health,” said the groups protesting against Lynas.

The Malaysian Energy, Science, Technology, Environment Minister Yeo Bee Yin, is set to make a decision by mid August on the Lynas appeal against the new conditions her ministry imposed in December on the company’s processing plant.

These conditions would force Lynas to export its low level radioactive waste from the country or face the non renewal of its license to operate in Malaysia which expires September 2.

A cabinet meeting on Friday failed to settle the issue among the five party coalition, but Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed has twice indicated that he thinks Lynas should be allowed to continue operating in the country if it agrees to extract the low level radioactive waste from its ore before it reaches Malaysia.

Lynas is expected to give the market an update on the regulatory issues in Malaysia at its quarterly results briefing Monday July 29……..https://www.theage.com.au/business/companies/more-protests-in-malaysia-but-no-clarity-as-lynas-shutdown-approaches-20190721-p52983.html