At Last the battle for hearts and minds has started and with ore...

At Last the battle for hearts and minds has started and with ore in hand it is no longer just academic. Next pic will be rear earth in hand.

HERE'S PROOF: Clear briefing given by Lynas officials has dispelled any doubts about their safety

KUANTAN: HOLDING samples of rare earth in their hands, residents from several villages here displayed smiles of confidence on their safety.

This took place during a briefing of rare earth refining operations at the Lynas Advanced Materials Plant in Gebeng here yesterday.

For Siti Aminah Talib, 58, from Balok Baru, Gebeng, there were no more doubts.

"All the representatives from nearby villages here are full of confidence on the safety aspects of the Lamp operation," she said, as other representatives nodded at the briefing site which was near the place where containers of rare earth are kept.

"We are fully satisfied with the briefing on the nature of the Lynas operations and the explanation on the negligible amount of radioactivity contained in the lanthanide samples."

She described the briefing given by Lynas officials as "clear and concise".

"We were given a clear picture of what goes on inside Lamp," she said and added she had no more doubts on how safe the rare earth elements were.

Dismissing the talk by the opposition on the dangers of rare earth, she said that it was hard to understand why they insisted on harping on something that clearly poses no danger to the surrounding community.

Abdullah Umar, 78, who used to work at the Kuantan Port, felt the opposition was making an unnecessarily big issue out of Lamp's rare earth operation.

"This whole matter is really a non-issue. It has been blown out of proportion by certain political parties," said the resident of Kg Balok Sejahtera here while holding in his right hand a sample of lanthanide given to him during the demonstration on the safety of the rare earth samples.

Former Kuantan district office technician Abdul Mukhtar Ngah, 56, said that he had always known that the rare earth operation at Lamp would not pose a threat to residents and the environment in Gebeng or anywhere else.

"We were given the true picture of rare earth transportation and handling via the briefing conducted by experts in the field.

"I was surprised to learn during the briefing that certain parts of the natural environment exudes higher radiation count compared to rare earth and yet do not pose any danger to people.

"I will go back to my village (Taman Balok Maju here) to tell the true story about the Lynas' rare earth operation."

Omar Abdul Rahman, in his 80s, said he used to work in more dangerous conditions. He once worked in an iron ore mine in Bukit Besi, Terengganu.

"The machinery that I used to work with, for hours at a time while in the mines, posed more danger compared to rare earth."

"My son-in-law works as a supervisor at Lamp. So I feel at ease with the notion of rare earth refining."

According to Lynas public relations and communications general manager Amin Abdullah, 52, residents from villages and housing areas in Balok, Gebeng, Beserah and other parts of Kuantan attended the briefing.

During the briefing, Lynas' radiological safety adviser Prof Dr Ismail Bahari demonstrated the safety of rare earth by comparing the radiation count of lanthanide samples with natural terrestrial radiation (NTR).

"NTR has a radiation count of 0.48 milliSievert a year (mSv/y) which is completely harmless while the lanthanide samples show a reading of 0.6 mSv/y."

The residents were also taken on a bus tour of the various areas of Lamp.

Speaking to reporters later, Lynas Malaysia managing director Datuk Mashal Ahmad asked anti-Lynas proponents to stop their campaign of spreading false rumours about Lamp's operation.

"Please stop it. After two years, it is clear the issue has never been about safety but politics," he said, adding that they should find other relevant issues as what they were doing could threaten the flow of foreign direct investment into Malaysia.

"Please let us in Lynas focus on our jobs so that foreign investors will know our country is a good place to invest in."


Residents holding rare earth samples to show it is safe in Gebeng yesterday. Pic by Afif Abd Halim