PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Rare earths miner Lynas has highlighted labour shortages as a potential challenge to the development of its Kalgoorlie rare earths processing facility.

The company this week noted that commissioning of the plant was being undertaken in four phases, with the final Stage 2 commissioning having started in June.

In June, chemical and wet circuits, including neutralisation, filtration and carbonation circuits, will be fed with rare earth carbonate from Lynas Malaysia which will allow completion of Stage 4 commissioning of those circuits. The company noted that major earthworks, including ponds required for production and on-site services including power, water and laboratory facilities, will be completed during this time and all materials required for production will be received at on-site storage facilities.

Stage 4 process commissioning is on track for completion by the end of June, with the exception of two critical path items, namely the waste gas treatment plant and onsite gas supply.

“Both the waste gas treatment plant and the onsite gas supply presented early challenges and mitigation strategies were implemented. This included 24-hour operation of the site construction team and implementation of a trucked liquified natural gas onsite gas solution to mitigate timing challenges experienced by our gas supplier associated with the installation of a gas pipeline,” the miner said in a statement.

Further challenges to the completion of these two items have arisen, including lack of availability of suitably qualified people to fully staff 24-hour construction activities and late delivery of equipment required for finalisation of commissioning.

Whilst Lynas had sourced additional labour, the full effect of these two items could not be fully mitigated at this time, the miner said, adding that the timing was within the range of ramp-up scenarios considered for the Kalgoorlie facility.

Lynas told shareholders that the commissioning of other productive equipment would continue unimpeded while these two items were completed.

The first production of mixed rare earth carbonate from the Kalgoorlie facility is now expected in August.