Malaysia has 6 coal fired power plants, 3 of which are fully owned by state governments, and all of which produce large amounts of fly ash which has low levels of radiation (uranium and thorium) and high levels of heavy metals. At present, Malaysia just dumps the fly ash near the coal fired power plants (often near residential areas or bodies of water), where it leaches into ground water. The radioactivity of fly ash is not considered a health concern by the Malaysian government authorities. Recently, there has been a push to safely turn this fly ash into building materials, as happens successfully in other countries.
https://inis.iaea.org/collection/NCLCollectionStore/_Public/43/035/43035329.pdf
This review will benefit LYC in that it will finally force the government to make a decision re Condisoil and/or the location of a PDF (one conclusion from the review (IMO, 50% probability) might be that the existing on site waste facility is adequate). LYC's required licenses to expand production are also likely to come post review. These matters needed to come to a head at some point – the previous government feared making decisions. There will be no catastrophic outcome from the review – the worst case scenario is that LYC has to build a new PDF off-site. An off-site PDF might cost the company $25m, which small change in the scheme of things. Remember that Dr Mahathir was PM when the distasterous Mitsubishi RE plant was built. He doesn't want a repeat of that on his watch, and this review buys him peace of mind. With fuzzy, Wong Tak, delays, reviews, etc, LYC has been effectively paying the price for Malaysian government regulatory mistakes regarding the Mitsubishi plant in the 1980s. I think this review will draw a line under all of these matters once and for all and LYC can finally move on and profitably and responsibly produce RE in Malaysia for decades to come.
Short sellers should keep in mind that once the review report is in, all uncertainty regarding LYC will be lifted, and the share price will head back to $2.50+ pretty quickly. LYC's quarterlys are going from strength to strength. We are at the very start of a 15 year bull run for NdPr on the back of increased global demand for mild hybrids, EVs, wind turbines, and other PM engine sales. Non chinese supplies for Nd Pr and magnets are obviously preferred by all non Chinese producers.
(20min delay)