Groups opposed to a rare-earths refinement plant in Malaysia plan to appeal against the atomic regulator’s decision to grant Australian miner Lynas a temporary operating licence.
Lynas shares soared earlier this month when the Malaysian Atomic Energy Licensing Board granted the company a two-year licence to begin refining rare earths in Gebeng, 260 kilometres north-east of Kuala Lumpur. The licence can be made permanent if Lynas complies with conditions, including plans for a waste-disposal plant at the site, which is five kilometres from the port of Kuantan.
Lee Tan worked for the Australian Conservation Foundation in Melbourne before returning to Kuantan where she was born, to fight the Lynas development.
Ms Tan said two separate appeals would be launched this week, one by locals in Kuantan and another in Kuala Lumpur. She said objections would centre on the ”shonky, fast-tracked approval process” in which the licensing board temporarily approved the plant less than a week after public consultations closed.
The president of the Malaysian Bar association, Lim Chee Wee, said last week, ”it beggars belief that [the licensing board] could have adequately and properly considered the 1123 public comments within merely two working days.
”The only natural conclusion is that the whole public consultation process is a sham and charade, ” he said.
A spokesman for the company said ”Lynas has reached out directly to more than 5000 local residents, community leaders, villagers and the families, and is now engaging in a conversation with the Malaysian community that will continue for the life of the plant.”
But Ms Tan contradicted the company’s claims. ”They refuse to talk to us,” she said.
Lynas expects to begin refining rare earths shipped from its $100 million mine in Mount Weld, Western Australia, by the second quarter of this year.
It hopes to recycle some waste to make building materials or fertiliser. In the case of iron phosphate gypsum, for which there are no commercial applications, the company said it can store waste safely for up to 17 years.
Mr Lim said ”the granting of a 10-month period for Lynas to provide the plan and location of the [permanent disposal facility] borders on recklessness: by then, even if the terms of the licence remain unfulfilled and the licence is suspended or cancelled, substantial amounts of radioactive wastes would have been produced”.
A review of the project by the International Atomic Energy Agency in June last year found no breach of international radiation safety standards, but did recommend that Lynas submit further waste-management plans.
The company said these additional requirements were all met in order to satisfy Malaysia’s atomic energy board and obtain the temporary licence.
Ms Tan said the ecologically sensitive area near mangroves meant toxic runoff into the South China Sea could affect local fisherman. But Lynas said the area was an industrial estate, already home to a number of petrochemical companies.
