Lynas - Shirking Its Responsibility On Toxic Waste

Lynas asserts that removal of water leach purification (WLP) residue from the country is only needed if all other options fail.

Responding to media commentary on letters signed by Lynas in 2012, company secretary Andrew Arnold said the Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) had issued three consecutive operating licences to Lynas Malaysia.

"All three licences require Lynas Malaysia to carry out R&D on the safe use of the WLP residue generated, failing which Lynas Malaysia shall site, construct and build a permanent disposal facility (PDF) to store the WLP residue. Only if these two options fail will Lynas be required to export the WLP out of Malaysia," he said in a statement.

Arnold also pointed out that the letter signed by the then Lynas Corporation executive chairman on Feb 23, 2012, explicitly stated that the company gave full undertaking, if necessary, to remove from Malaysia all waste generated by the Lynas Advanced Materials Plant in Gebeng during the temporary operating licence period.

"This letter is related to the third of the three options for Lynas Malaysia's WLP residue listed above, and it is only related to the residue generated during the two-year temporary operating licence period," he said.

Lynas' temporary operating licence period was from Sept 3, 2012, to Sept 2, 2014. Its current full operating stage licence will expire by Sept 2, 2019.

Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Minister Yeo Bee Yin recently called on Lynas to honour its commitment to ship out its waste considering the risk of the residue accumulation.

Yeo also said it would only take 10% of Lynas' earnings of one year to send out waste that had accumulated in Malaysia for six years.

In responding to this, Arnold said these estimates appear to be based on a misquote of the views of an analyst.

"The analyst's original report noted that these figures were a rough estimate only. The analyst also referenced the Lynas security deposit paid to the Malaysian government's AELB (not insurance) which had, as one of its purposes, the establishment of a PDF. In reaching his view, the analyst had assumed that this deposit would be used to pay for some of the costs of exporting WLP, on the basis that a PDF would no longer be required," he said.

However, Arnold said Lynas was not in a position to provide guidance on the potential costs associated with exporting WLP as the company regularly examines the financial feasibility of different business scenarios and contingencies.

"These assessments are based on various assumptions and are not supported by confirmed cost estimates," he said.

Arnold said though that the estimated costs quoted in media reports appear to be substantially lower than initial assessments of such costs made by Lynas.