Lynas confirms Malaysian base for Western Australian rare earths project

The long road to development for Lynas Corporation Mount Weld rare earths project near Laverton in Western Australia received an open gate today when it received all approvals from Malaysian authorities to build an advanced materials plant.

PERTH -  Approval for the plant to process rare earth concentrates shipped from Lynas Corporation Ltd's (ASX:LYC) Mount Weld have been given by Malaysia's State of Pahang's Department of Environment and also from the country's Atomic Energy Licencing Board.

After exacting studies from the late 1990s through to 2005, Lynas decided the economics of developing a rare earths recovery plant were far cheaper in Malaysia than the original concept in Western Australia, not just based on financial issues but also by moving the processing closer to the global markets.

The plant is to be sited in the Gebeng industrial area at Kuantan in Pahang State.

Lynas' Executive Chairman, Nicholas Curtis, said today that the company will immediately start construction of the plant, with the early works package already underway.

"Lynas believes the Malaysian Advanced Materials Plant will set a benchmark for environmental excellence within our industry," Curtis said.

"An environmentally excellent supply chain is important for the industry as many of the products will be used in environmental protection and energy efficient applications."

The company claims to own the richest deposit of rare earth Lanthanides in the world at Mt Weld, which is near Laverton.

The mining contractor placed the first ore on stockpiles in December.

Curtis said it intends to build a concentration plant at Mt Weld and the concentrate will then go to the Gebeng advanced materials plant.

Rare earths is the term given to 15 metallic elements known as the lanthanide series, plus yttrium. They play a key role in green environmental products, from energy efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) to hybrid cars, automotive catalytic converters and wind turbine generators. They are also essential in the development and manufacturing of many modern technological products, from hard disc drives to flat panel displays, iPods and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans.

Another Australian company Arafura Resources Ltd (ASX: ARU) is advancing studies on its large Nolans Bore rare earths deposit north of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. Like Lynas, Arafura sees a growing market, not only because of the wider applications now for rare earths but also because China - which provides about 95% of world supply - is clamping down on exports because of increased internal demand.

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