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Malaysian residents opposed to a rare earths processing facility have launched a legal challenged that threatens to delay the project put forward by Australia’s Lynas Corp.
Reuters reports the court action would force the government to review its decision to allow the company a temporary operating licence to start the facility in June.
Critics of Lynas’ project believe that allowing the US$230 million rare earth refinery will jeopardize Malaysians’ well-being and the environment. The company counters that its plant would be safe and bears no resemblance to the Mitsubishi Chemicals rare earth plant that was shut down in 1992 after residents blamed the plant for birth defects and high numbers of leukemia cases, Reuters said.
The facility, currently under construction, is set to become one of the few sources outside China (the other is Molycorp’s Mountain Pass facility in California) to process rare earths and produce metals used in high-tech equipment from weapons to cell phones.
Rare earths for the plant would be sourced and shipped from Lynas’ Mount Weld mine in Australia.
