PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Rare earths miner Lynas on Thursday denied claims by an anti-Lynas activist group that it had misled shareholders over a permanent deposit facility (PDF) for the water leach purification (WLP) residue at Bykit Ketam, in Malaysia.
Activist group Save Malaysia, Stop Lynas, had issued a statement claiming that the state government had denied identifying Bukit Ketam as a location for the PDF, and urged Lynas shareholders to lodge a complaint with the ASX.
However, Lynas on Thursday said that the state government of Pahang had confirmed the issue of a letter to Lynas, agreeing with the proposal to locate the PDF site at Bukit Ketam, subject to approval by the federal government.
The consent letter was one of the key criteria set out by the Malaysian government in the renewal of Lynas’ operating licence, and marked the first step towards the PDF being established.
Lynas said that prior to construction of the storage facility, further work would be undertaken in accordance with international guidelines and regulatory requirements, while the company would also continue to engage with all relevant stakeholders, including the state and federal governments and regulatory authorities.
Furthermore, Lynas also denied that the Bukit Ketam site was in a water catchment area, with expert studies also showing that the PDF could be constructed to ensure that there was no pathway for material to reach the water supply.