PM: Firm can continue ops only if it decontaminates materials

PUTRAJAYA: Lynas Malaysia Sdn Bhd can continue operating in Malaysia, but only if raw materials are decontaminated before being brought here from Australia.

Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said this would ensure that the materials that entered into Malaysia would be in smaller volumes and the waste produced would not be dangerous to anybody.

He said the government had opened up the rare earth material processing business to other companies, which are willing to buy up or acquire the business.

“These companies have given us the promise that in the future, before sending the raw materials to Malaysia, they would firstly clean them up, which means they would crack and decontaminate them in some way with regards to radioactivity.

“Lynas can continue if they can promise that the materials will be cracked and cleaned before being brought into Malaysia,” he said at the Prime Minister’s Office here.

Dr Mahathir’s statement clarified the status of the project amid conflicting statements by several ministers on the issue.

Recently, Entrepreneur Development Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Redzuan Md Yusof said the government had not decided on the Lynas project and the radioactive waste would be returned to Australia.

On the other hand, Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Minister Yeo Bee Yin in December ordered Lynas to ship its radioactive waste back to Australia before its operating permit could be renewed.

Lynas has been operating a processing plant in Gebeng, Kuantan, refining rare earth ore from the its mine in Western Australia for the past six years.

However, there have been claims that the plant’s activities posed health hazards as they produce toxic and radioactive waste.