Malaysian minister offers to step down from review of Lynas rare earth plant
KUALA LUMPUR/MELBOURNE - The Malaysian minister in charge of a committee reviewing Australian rare earth miner Lynas Corp's plant has offered to step down following company criticism that she would not be impartial.
Malaysian Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister's Office Fuziah Salleh said in a statement on Friday that she was prepared to step aside, and had no doubt that there will be highly qualified personnel to replace her as the chair.
"If Lynas is so obsessed with wanting me out of the Review Team, then I am prepared to step aside. I prefer not to be used by Lynas to criticize the Review, when it has a very important function to perform for the country," she said.
Salleh is a member of parliament for the Malaysian city of Kuantan where Lynas operates its rare earths plant that process ores from its Mount Weld mine in Australia.
Lynas has raised concerns about the impartiality of Salleh and committee member Wong Tack, both long time opponents of the project.
The committee reviewing Lynas' plant reports to the Malaysian Energy and Environment Ministry, headed by Minister Yeo Bee Yin. She did not reply to messages sent by Reuters asking to confirm that Salleh was stepping down.
Salleh's offer to step down sent shares in Lynas, the only producer outside of China of rare earth minerals used in magnets and in other high-technology items, soaring by more than 9%. CLSA analyst Dylan Kelly reiterated a high conviction buy on Lynas stock.
"We see this as incrementally positive for the stock as the potential for the review to turn into a Kangaroo court has now been absolved," said Kelly in a note on Friday.
Comments
The
content
you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.
If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.
If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.
For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation