Extract AUST today:
Nick Evans
‘…..the tight labour market in WA, and the supply chain constraints partly caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, have pushed up costs and delayed work at the facility. Lynas said on Monday it now faced fresh delays to the final stage of commissioning at the facility after delays to receiving and installing key parts of the manufacturing centre – including the waste gas treatment plant and on-site gas supply.
“Further challenges have presented to the completion of these two items, including lack of availability of suitably qualified people to fully staff 24-hour construction activities and late delivery of equipment required for finalisation of commissioning,” the company said. “While Lynas has sourced additional labour, the full effect of these two items cannot be fully mitigated at this time.”
Lynas said it now expected to produce its first mixed rare earth concentrate at Kalgoorlie in August, not July, but noted the delay still left the company “within the range of ramp-up scenarios considered for the Kalgoorlie facility”.
The company said it had finished the first three phases of commissioning at the plant, and now only needed to finish the final installation of the gas and waste gas treatment plant so it could begin introducing reagents and feedstock to the facility and turn on the kiln needed to roast the material produced from Mt Weld “Commissioning of other productive equipment will continue unimpeded while these two items are completed,” Lynas said.
Lynas said in May it was still pursuing its legal options over the Malaysian government’s decision to ban the importation of concentrate, and hoped to eventually reverse the decision. That, together with the successful commissioning of the Kalgoorlie plant, could eventually lead to a significant increase in capacity at the company’s Malaysian refinery.
The company is also working on a multimillion-dollar expansion of its Mt Weld mine to help meet growing demand for the rare earth oxides it produces.…….
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