KUALA LUMPUR: State governments must ensure that forest areas cleared for rare earth element (REE) mining are properly rehabilitated, says Datuk Seri Arthur Joseph Kurup.
The Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Minister said land and mineral royalty matters fell under state jurisdiction, making state governments responsible for ensuring that requirements were met when forest reserves were degazetted for mining.
“The Federal Government has always respected the principle of federalism while strengthening coordination and cooperation among states through the National Mineral Council.
“State governments must ensure that when forest areas are excised, the parties appointed to carry out replanting and rehabilitation comply with the relevant conditions at all times.
“This is necessary to ensure that the requirements for replanting or replacing the forest areas that have been excised are fulfilled,” he said during the ministry’s winding-up session for Budget 2027 in the Dewan Rakyat on Wednesday (Oct 28).
Arthur said mining was not permitted in permanent forest reserves unless the area was degazetted and replaced with another area of the same size.
He was responding to Kubang Pasu MP, who highlighted the presence of REE deposits within forest reserves as a major obstacle to developing the industry.
Arthur said the government was committed to developing the entire REE industry value chain, from mining and processing to producing high-value downstream products.
This would allow producing states to benefit from royalties, investment and job opportunities, while Malaysians could gain from industrial development, technology transfer and increased national revenue.
Among the measures to develop the domestic REE industry are the implementation of standard operating procedures (SOPs) to ensure mining is carried out responsibly and sustainably, as well as the establishment of a special task force to coordinate the industry's development, he said.
“The government has also allocated RM38.49mil under the 13th Malaysia Plan (13MP) for REE resource mapping to obtain more detailed data, identify potentially mineable deposits, support planning and attract investment,” he added.
Arthur said the government was also assessing suitable incentives and financing mechanisms to encourage more companies to participate in upstream REE activities.
