lyc engaging public in malaysia

Don't think this has been posted, but there have been lots of posts.

Friday, January 20, 2012
Lynas engages with Malaysians over controversial rare earth plant as approval draws near

January 20, 2012 (Source: Asian Correspondant) -- Lynas Corp, the Australian-based rare earth mining company that has received much bad press last year for building a rare earth mining plant in Gebeng, Pahang, is stepping up efforts to mend a dent in its reputation through Facebook and a specially-built website.

The Australian Stock Exchange-listed company also put out an advertorial on major English dailies in Malaysia to alert readers that the company is ready to engage with members of the public on its business activities.

The advert, simply headlined as “Lynas Answers Questions” said: “Some allegations about our Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP) in the Gebeng Industrial Estate in Pahang are confusing and of concern to the public. And we want to help clarify the facts.”

The company said the community is right to question whether Lynas’ operations can be done safely. “By discussing how Lynas proposes to manage its operations to protect the health and safety of the community and the environment- now and in the future- people can form their own opinions on the safety of the plant,” it said.

Meanwhile on its website www.lynasandmalaysia.com, Lynas said it chose Malaysia to set up its plant for economic reasons. “Lynas met all the regulations and approvals to build a processing plant in Australia, but chose Malaysia because it makes better business sense to be close to global customers,” it said.

Lynas’ RM1.5 billion (US$500 million) plant is already 85% completed and production is supposed to commence in the third quarter last year, but the company faced strong opposition from Malaysians to operate there, mainly due to concerns that rare earth mining would contaminate the surroundings and cause radioactive poisoning in neighborhoods around the plant, similar to an incident that happened in Bukit Merah- a small town in the neighboring state of Perak- in the 1980s.

In 1985, the Bukit Merah residents obtained a court injunction on Asia Rare Earth, a company set up by local businessmen and Mitsubishi Chemical- a unit of Japan-based Mitsubishi conglomerate- to stop mining rare earth until it met international safety standards.

While operations have ceased currently, a large cleanup exercise of the factory and a radioactive waste dumpsite is still ongoing today.

But on Lynas’ website, it said that would not happen. “The LAMP is completely different to the Bukit Merah rare earths plant. The Bukit Merah plant processed “monazite” from the waste of tin mines, which is very different to the rare earths we are processing. There are now much higher standards in place which mean Bukit Merah could never be repeated,” it said.