clowns...

Lynas must remove residue, Putrajaya says it again

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 12 – The Cabinet today endorsed a ministerial statement issued earlier this week instructing Australian miner Lynas to ensure all residue and by-products from its rare earth refinery are removed from the country.
Putrajaya’s latest statement comes even after Lynas executive chairman Nicholas Curtis saying today that that the company’s operating licence does not require it to ship out of Malaysia any residue produced from its refinery in coastal Gebeng.

Curtis also said that Lynas would push on with plans to develop a permanent disposal facility (PDF) here despite an ongoing storm over its potential waste hazards.

Today’s ministerial statement was issued by four Cabinet members – Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed, Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Datuk Seri Panglima Dr Maximus Johnity Ongkili, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Datuk Seri Douglas Unggah Embas and Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai.

But Ongkili had just a day earlier added to the confusion by suggesting that it was up to Lynas to decide where to sell its converted waste material.

The latest statement by the four ministers will now put Lynas in a difficult position as Curtis had also said that Malaysia is treating Lynas as a “political football” ahead of the country’s elections that must be called by next April when the Barisan Nasional (BN) government’s mandate expires.

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/lynas-must-remove-residue-putrajaya-says-it-again

Their are some serious communication issues going on here. Would need to see the Ministers joint statement to confirm this once and for all. I do believe the confusion is a result of the many terms being used such as waste, residue and co products. If the joint statement incorporates the co products as needing to be removed, this would certainly be a new condition of the TOL.
If the condition to remove the co products is only applicable because they do not comply with Malaysian standards, then this should have been communicated in the joint statement of the clowns.
As for the reports that NC said the residue does not have to be removed as part of the TOL conditions, well, that's up to Lynas to sort out with the media as usual.