pdf, australia, investor decision, plant, page-5

"National legislation stipulates that Australia will not accept responsibility for any waste product produced from offshore processing of resources purchased in Australia such as iron ore, mineral sands and the rare earth produced by Lynas Corporation," Norman Moore, Western Australian Minister for Mines and Petroleum."

"Australia does not support the importation and storage of other countries' radioactive waste."


One way may have been through a Basel permit which would be the only course of action to get a permit:

A Basel permit may be granted only if the corresponding requirements of Article 11 regulations have been met

Import

1) If:

(a) a person applies for a Basel import permit in relation to an import proposal; and

(b) the proposal is within the scope of a particular set of Article 11 regulations;

the Minister must not grant the permit unless the Minister is satisfied that the corresponding requirements of that set of regulations have been met in relation to the proposal. For this purpose, a corresponding requirement of a particular set of Article 11 regulations is a requirement under that set of regulations:

Guess who that Minister is?
No chance of getting this permit imo.


(c) that must be met before granting a special import permit under that set of regulations; and

(d) that is declared by the regulations to be a corresponding requirement for the purposes of this subsection.

Declaration extending the meaning of hazardous waste—classification under foreign laws

(2) If:

(a) the foreign country is a party to the Basel Convention "(malaysia is)"; and

(b) the Minister is satisfied that, under a law of that country that gives effect to the Basel Convention, a particular substance or object is, in particular circumstances, classified as hazardous waste; and

(c) apart from this section, the waste is not hazardous waste;

the Minister must, by writing, declare that that substance or object is, in those circumstances, hazardous waste for those purposes.


I think Lynas would have no hope in getting any kind of Basel permit but malaysi is a party to it, this would be their only way in imo.

If it wasnt actually a "waste" product from offshore then I would say LYC would have a good chance of getting such a permit, but as the Minister explains, it seems national legislation permits it from coming into Australia.