No amendments to Lynas licensing conditions

KUALA LUMPUR: Despite the changes in administration, the four licensing conditions imposed on Lynas Malaysia Sdn Bhd have remained the same, says Chang Lih Kang.

The Science, Technology, and Innovation Minister said the ministry has had four different ministers since 2020, even during the Perikatan Nasional administration but licensing conditions remained unchanged.

“That’s why I feel consistency is important when it involves foreign investors,” he said in Parliament.

Chang added a six-month extension was given to Lynas Malaysia after taking into consideration the global supply chain conditions for rare earth, adding that the government had decided to extend the rare earth company’s activity in Gebeng until the end of the year.

He said all information on the company’s appeal to the ministry to drop four licence conditions set by the Atomic Energy Licencing Board (AELB) was enshrined in confidentiality under the Atomic Energy Licensing Act 1984.

He was responding to a question by Khoo Poay Tiong (PH-Kota Melaka) about the basis of the appeal by Lynas over terms of its operations licence.

“We cannot let the global supply chain be disrupted, we gave them an extension of six months. The decision is final,” he said.

In May, Chang said the company would not be allowed to carry out any more “cracking and leaching” (C&L) activities after Dec 31.