PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Rare earths miner Lynas has reaffirmed its commitment to further developing Malaysia’s position as a global rare earths centre, despite being given marching orders for its cracking and leaching operations.

The Malaysian government has renewed Lynas’ operating license for an initial six month period, imposing a number of conditions on the company, including the relocation of cracking and leaching activities offshore.

Lynas’ growth plans out to 2025 would see the company move its cracking and leaching operations to Western Australia.

However, under the new operating license conditions, Lynas would be required to complete the relocation of the cracking and leaching units within a four-year period.

Lynas last week flagged a 2022 start to cracking and leaching operations in Western Australia, with plans to move all of the cracking and leaching work to its Mt Weld operations.

Furthermore, the ASX-listed company will be required to build a permanent deposit facility for the water leach purification (WLP) residue within six months, with Lynas telling shareholders on Friday that the company would accelerate planning and construction of the facility.

Alternatively, the company could obtain consent from another country to receive the material.

Meanwhile, under the new operating license Lynas’ 0.5% spend of its annual gross sales would revert from research and development to the government of Malaysia as an additional security until cracking and leaching operations have started in Australia.

The company said that a ‘relative portion’ of this security amount is expected to be made available for the permanent deposit facility for the WLP.

Lynas CEO and MD Amanda Lacaze said on Friday that the company was optimistic that the award of the operating license would bring an end to the politicization of Lynas over the past year.

“We look forward to continuing to be an active member of our communities and we will work closely with community members to ensure that they have up to date and accurate information about our operations.”

“Lynas will continue to make a positive contribution to the Malaysian economy and to Malaysia’s Industry 4.0 vision. We hope today’s decision will encourage other international businesses to invest in downstream manufacturing in Malaysia,” Lacaze said.

In addition to the cracking and leaching operations, the Lynas Advanced Materials Plant in Malaysia also undertakes solvent extraction and product finishing to produce a neodymium and praseodymium oxide and a number of other rare earths.