Malaysian court delays hearing on operating licence for rare earths mine

A MALAYSIAN court yesterday postponed until next week a hearing on a temporary operating licence granted to Australian miner Lynas Corporation for a rare earths plant, an activist said.

The decision to postpone the hearing to next Wednesday further delays the start of operations at the $800m facility, which has been dogged by protests from environmentalists and residents over concerns about radiation.

Lynas secured the operating licence early last month but Kuantan high court in eastern Pahang state, where the plant is based, put it on hold later that month after an appeal by activists.

Environmental group Save Malaysia Stop Lynas said its lawyers yesterday called for the hearing at the Kuantan court to be delayed so they could answer affidavits filed by Lynas. “The court has postponed the hearing to October 10. The interim stay on the temporary operating licence continues until that date,” group spokesman Tan Bun Teet said. The court was expected to rule on the application by three individuals to permanently stay the operating licence at next week’s hearing, he said. Activists and local residents have vowed to shut the plant — the biggest outside China — which has emerged as a controversial issue in the country’s national elections, which must be held by the middle of next year.

China supplies about 95% of the world’s rare earths, used in high-tech equipment from iPods to missiles, but Lynas hopes the Malaysian plant will help it to break the Chinese dominance of the market. The plant will process material from Lynas’ Mount Weld mine in Australia. Lynas has insisted that any radioactive waste it produces will only be low-level and not harmful to human health. But opposition politicians and environmentalists fear that radioactive waste it produces can seep into the ground and water, harming the environment and people’s health. Sapa-AFP