Malaysian Lynas Plant Pending Review

The Lynas plant in Pahang state of Malaysia is pending a month-long review after high profile protests by environmentalist, villagers, NGOs highlighted and made clear comparisons to a radioactive chemical disaster that happened some years ago in Bukit Merah in the state of Perak - that resulted in villagers suffering from leukaemia.

Lynas meanwhile has secured another contract to mine for rare earth elements in Malawi.

These rare earth minerals are highly sought-after by new age modern technology - from iPhones, smartphones, netbooks, to hybrid cars. A single Prius Toyota Hybrid car uses 1 kg of neodymium.

What is neodymium? I remember buying a Sony earphone for my Nokia 5310 MP3 phone (my second purchase, the first one is damaged after 2 year's usage) recently. The package highlighted "neodymium speakers". Creating about 9 times the magnetic energy of the barium ferrite magnet, this overwhelming powerful magnet has allowed for the development of ultra-compact speakers.

Neodymium magnets are the strongest permanent rare earth magnet available. The magnets are popular and used for a variety of purposes including medical magnetic therapy, as part of industrial machines, for educational research and science and in household items, cars, speakers and toys.

Lynas briefing called-off lowering trust of residents

The rare earth refinery owned by Lynas Corp in Gebeng, Malaysia caused further mistrust when the scheduled briefing by the Pahang State Economic Development Corporation was cancelled unceremoniously with just a sign outside the state venue.

Most of the residents felt further anxiety that the government agencies are playing hide-and-seek games and with no transparency. Recent heightened awareness about nuclear radiation, nuclear fallout, toxic waste material has pushed villagers and residents to be more proactive in seeking answers and preventive measures instead of the more lackadaisical attitude and non-confrontational culture of most Malaysians. In a way, residents of various backgrounds and races seem united in this front to get not just answers but accountability and transparency.

Shoddy workmanship, corruption of contracts are far too common and also when disaster strikes, when a building collapses, then only a Commission is set-up or organised to investigate. Now residents want proper deliverance. Not a cover-up after the fact.

Nicholas Curtis defends radioactive thorium Lynas

Nicholas Curtis, executive chairman of Lynas, maintained that the project in Gebeng, Pahang, Malaysia was entirely safe after several reports and concerns were raised in the aftermath of the nuclear troubles in Japan as well as a landmark case that happened in Perak, Malaysia many years ago that is somewhat related to radioactive contamination and the effects of exposure including leukaemia. Remnants or waste from the processing plant which will include iron phosphorus gymsum contains radioactive thorium compound.


Thorium
Thorium is a component of the magnesium alloy called Mag-Thor, used in aircraft engines and imparting high strength and creep resistance at elevated temperatures. Thoriated magnesium was used to build the CIM-10 Bomarc missile, although concerns about radioactivity have resulted in several missiles being removed from public display.

Thorium is also used as an alloying agent in gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) to increase the melting temperature of tungsten electrodes and improve arc stability. The electrodes labeled EWTH-1 contain 1% thorium, while the EWTH-2 contain 2%. Thorium is a very effective radiation shield, although it has not been used for this purpose as much as lead or depleted uranium. Thorium is a fertile material for producing nuclear fuel in a breeder reactor. Uranium-thorium age dating has been used to date hominid fossils.

Thorium dioxide is a material for heat-resistant ceramics, e.g., for high-temperature laboratory crucibles. When added to glass, it helps increase refractive index and decrease dispersion. Such glass finds application in high-quality lenses for cameras and scientific instruments.

The radiation from these lenses can self-darken (yellow) them over a period of years and degrade film, but the health risks are minimal.

Read more about thorium here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorium

Asian Rare Earth Incident Haunts Lynas Expansion Plans

My mother was reading some news and it jolted her she put the news and some memories together. One of her colleague and classmate had a sudden case on leukaemia  just barely 2 years out of the teaching college. From a strong, upbeat, intelligent, sporty person, her friend turned into a frail skeletal shelf - as noted by another friend who visited - in Perak just days before she passed away.

And what rings to bell to most people there, is the incident of radioactive contamination by a firm called Asian Rare Earth.

And further news report of a new processing plant of similar sorts by Lynas Corp in Gebeng, Pahang has started a huge awareness campaign. The word "radioactive" has its profile risen incredibly by the nuclear reactor situation in Fukushima. Perhaps not since those atomic bombs, and Chernobyl, Ukraine.

Here is the full story done by New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/09/business/energy-environment/09rareside.html?_r=1

Excerpts:
"To dispose of the radioactive material, engineers have cut the top off a hill three miles away in a forest reserve, buried the material inside the hill’s core and then entombed it under more than 20 feet of clay and granite."

Lynas Gebeng getting the heat

The RM700mil plant being built by Lynas Corporation of Australia has caused anxiety among nearby residents following news reports about the dangers of radioactive waste discharged from rare earth processing.

“Proponents of the project are using the term low-level radiation to allay fear.

“But the fact remains that it is still a form of radiation and it is carcinogenic,” he said.

Dr Jayabalan called on authorities to learn from the lessons in Bukit Merah, Perak, where deaths associated with leukaemia and unexplained miscarriages involving young healthy women had been reported among people living in the vicinity of the rare earth metal processing plant.

The plant belonging to Mitsubishi Chemical was closed in 1992 following health and environmental issues.

“In Bukit Merah, there were eight documented leukaemia cases.

“I had personally handled five of the cases, which included four children.

“Four of them, who were living about 500m from the plant, had since died,” he said.

Dr Jayabalan called on health authorities to check the number of tumour cases among those living in the vicinity, adding that tumours could occur even 20 years after exposure to radiation.

Lynas is mining rare earth in Australia, but plans to process it 2,500km away in Pahang.

“The end product that is sold to the global market belongs to Lynas, and the radioactive wastes would be dumped in Malaysia,” he said, noting that the Malaysian Government was even giving a 12-year tax exemption to Lynas.

“This is a typical case of a first world country dumping hazardous waste in a third world country.

“At the end of the day, the health cost would overwhelm all else,” he said.

Lynas Malaysia Health Poser

Lynas has a lot of explanation, assurance and counter-measures to do when setting up their Rare Earth Element plant in Pahang, Malaysia.

   

Before the Fukushima nuclear plants were built several years ago, the Japanese authorities had also given ample assurances that they were safe and located away from populous areas.  And now we see the Japanese authorities and their nuclear experts scratching their heads over the leakages and scrambling to solve the problem. But the people’s lives are already endangered.

Dr Dominic Lau of Gerakan highlighted the negative health impact from the rare earth plant operations in Bukit Merah in 1982 where Asian Rare Earth began operating its rare earth plant along Jalan Lahat.

In 1984, environmentalist and industrial waste experts who visited the site had declared that the radiation level of the area was up to 800 times the accepted levels and it was no longer safe to stay there.

A petition was signed to protest against the operations, followed by several demonstrations and a hunger strike. In 1989, two children, aged five and 11, and a 19-year-old man were diagnosed with acute leukemia while other cases such as brain cancer and septicemia were also reported.

“We do not want history to repeat itself, why have we not learnt from the incident?” he said.

Dr Lau urged the government to not ignore the feedback from the people. It is unfair to deprive the Gebeng citizens of a safe living environment, everyone deserves a safe place and that is the purpose of having a government.

The government should not have permitted the construction of a rare earth processing plant at the cost of the public’s health and safety.

Lynas Rare Earth Mining in Malaysia

Australia-listed Lynas Corp Ltd had received approvals to build a rare earth refinery in Australia and China but had picked Malaysia as the “preferred location” given its “proximity to market, access to high quality chemicals, utilities and engineering skills' coupled with its transparent regulatory framework,” said the company.

Lynas said it had initially obtained all approvals for this project in Australia but several factors in the country made it not favourable such as water shortage, difficulty of finding a suitable location that met with all its required infrastructure needs, lack of industrial land and port capacity, short supply of engineering and construction skills and the relatively high costs.

China which produces 97% of the world's rare earth supply, according to Lynas, had previously approved its plan to set up the processing plant in the country but the Chinese government had later imposed export limits on all final products as well as export taxes. “The Chinese government now controls and restricts export of all rare earth materials and also applies import and export taxes of up to 25% specifically for rare earths. Lynas was unwilling to invest in China and then have the export of final products controlled by the Chinese government,” Lynas said.

In recent weeks, protests over Lynas' project in Kuantan have gained strong momentum; the project has drawn much flak on the back of concerns over its potential health and environmental risk from the radioactive waste. “By all international standards, the Lynas raw material is classified as safe, non-toxic and non-hazardous,” it reiterated.

According to Lynas, the project's operating expenditure is estimated at RM350mil a year while it expects to rake in export revenue of RM880mil a year. It said the project would create over 350 skilled and semi-skilled job opportunities.

In an attempt to clear the air, the supplier of rare earths said it had initially proposed to set up its RM1.3bil plant in Kemaman, Terengganu as per the advice of Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida) in 2006 and had designed the plant for that specific location, having obtained all relevant approvals from AELB, DOE and the Kemaman municipal council.

However, while waiting for the Terengganu government to allocate the land, Lynas said Mida had asked the company to consider relocating the plant to Gebeng, Pahang, which is where it is currently being built. Kuantan, the company elaborated, is well-equipped with multi-port facilities, available industrial land, plentiful water supplies, natural gas pipelines and stable electricity supply and it also has diverse chemical, high quality chemical supplies which the company can purchase from local companies.

“At no time did the Terengganu government reject approval for the Lynas plant.

“Lynas feels an obligation to respond to recent public statements made about the Lynas Advanced Material Plant in Malaysia statements we believe are factually incorrect, statements which are taken out of context, and statements which are misleading to the public,” it continued.

The Lynas plant will process raw material sourced from its mine and concentration plant in Mount Weld, Western Australia which will be transported to the facility in Pahang.

“This is very different to the raw material processed at the Asian Rare Earth Plant in Bukit Merah which used tin mining tailings as its raw material. This contained high levels of thorium, which was the source of high levels of radiation, and ultimately this plant's closure.

“Under current regulations, the raw material processed at Bukit Merah could not be processed in Australia, Malaysia or China today,” it said, adding that by contrast, the Lynas raw material contained naturally low levels of thorium 50 times lower than the tin tailings used by Asian Rare Earth.