Skip to navigationSkip to contentSkip to footerHelp using this website - Accessibility statementLynas boss takes swipe at critical minerals handouts
Brad ThompsonReporterNov 29, 2022 – 5.07pmLynas Rare Earths boss Amanda Lacaze has questioned the way the federal government allocates taxpayer funds to critical minerals projects, saying she would rather see investment in infrastructure to support the success of multiple businesses.
The federal government has tended to pick winners and losers in critical minerals by opting to finance some projects and companies ahead of others, most notably a $1 billion-plus non-recourse loan for Iluka Resources to build Australia’s first fully integrated rare earths refinery.
Ms Lacaze said she was happy for Lynas, the world’s biggest non-China supplier of rare earths, to put its hand up for funding, but didn’t agree with the current approach.
“Of course, I said to our people we should be at the front of the queue because at least that way we know it will be spent wisely,” she told the Lynas annual general meeting on Tuesday.
“My conversations with government are that I would rather the money be spent on creating infrastructure in which we can then be successful as businesses.”
Lynas has received only modest support from Australian governments as it looks to boost production at the Mt Weld mine in Western Australia and races the clock to have a $575 million cracking and leaching plant up and running at Kalgoorlie in time to meet a July 1, 2023, deadline set by Malaysian authorities.
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LYCLynas Corporation
$8.540 2.28%View LYC related articlesNov 21Mar 22Jun 22Nov 226.0009.00012.000Updated: Nov 30, 2022 – 8.01am. Data is 20 mins delayed.ADVERTISEMENTCONTENT RESUMES ON SCROLLAdvertisementMs Lacaze and Lynas chairman Kathleen Conlon were asked several questions about the Kalgoorlie plant and whether it would be operational in time, but couldn’t provide the kind of guarantee wanted by some shareholders.
Under one of four conditions set by Malaysian authorities, Lynas will no longer be allowed to import rare earths, which have a naturally occurring radioactivity, straight from its Mt Weld mine to its downstream operations at Kuantan on the South-East Asian nation’s east coast from July next year.
Asked about the deadline, which in effect requires the Kalgoorlie plant to be operational, Ms Lacaze said: “We will manage our business so that we do not have disruption to the business.
“So, our focus has always been, and I’ve always said, that the absolute deliverable is that this facility is operating in time for ... that transition. All of our timing of that project is focused on that. This is not one of the things that is keeping me awake at night.”
Lynas has asked Malaysia, where elections this month ended with a hung parliament and minority government led by Anwar Ibrahim, to review the terms of its licence to operate in the country.
Lynas has received long-term support from Japan Inc and more recently the Pentagon, but Ms Lacaze said some Western governments, including Australia, struggled when it came to good industry policy and planning.
Advertisement“I engage with a lot of governments and regulators, and it’s sort of like they’re almost offended by the fact that China has managed to develop this dominant position in the supply chain [for rare earths],” she said.
Ms Lacaze said China’s dominance could be traced back 30 years to when it started to develop the processing expertise to make the most of its rare earths deposits.
“I find that, particularly the Australians, the US and the Europeans, really are struggling with the idea that if they want to be able to change these dynamics, they need not to have ... policy ADHD,” she said.
“They actually need to plan the industry policy and stick to it.
“Now, I think that there is a great awareness in each of those jurisdictions of the importance of the ... we famously called them critical minerals, which basically just means something which is pretty important and which we don’t have a lot of today.”
Ms Lacaze said the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder’s investment in treating effluent to boost water supply for Lynas and other miners and processors was an example of government supporting industry through infrastructure.
Lynas was welcomed with open arms in Kalgoorlie after selecting it as the site for cracking and leaching operations unwanted in Malaysia, after a noisy campaign against the storage of low-level radioactive waste.
In June, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute published research linking the Chinese Communist Party to a social media campaign designed to discredit Lynas in Malaysia.
Brad Thompson writes across business and politics from Western Australia for The Australian Financial Review. Brad is based in our Perth bureau. Connect with Brad on Twitter. Email Brad at brad.thompson@copyright linkSPONSORED
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