Rare earths play Lynas in $400m capital raise, two brokers hired, page-3

Lynas Corporation is set to unveil a $400 million capital raising when it hands down 2020 financial year earnings on Monday, Street Talk can reveal.Investor sources told Street Talk that the $1.9 billion rare earth metals producer had hired Bank of America and Canaccord Genuity to oversee a deal which would see new equity raised via a placement and rights issue.The mooted capital raising comes as Lynas races against the clock to build and commission a cracking and leaching plant at Kalgoorlie after being ordered to stop producing low-level radioactive waste at its operations in Malaysia.Lynas, the world's biggest non-China producer, is aiming to truck rare earths from its Mt Weld mine near Laverton to the Kalgoorlie plant before sending the semi-processed material on to Malaysia.The company hit an early snag in the environmental approvals process for the plant after the Department of Agriculture, Water and Environment (DAWE) said on Friday it had suspended its time frame for making a decision on the Lynas plans.A department notice said the revised statutory time frame for what the Morrison government and other nations regard as a strategically important project is now 15 business days after it receives additional information requested from Lynas.Lynas shares last traded at $2.61.