Australia’s Lynas Rare Earth Ltd. (formerly known as Lynas On March 8, 2011, a New York Times article revealed construction of a world-scale rare earth (RE) secondary processing plant in an industrial estate in Gebeng, near the Port of Kuantan, Malaysia. The plant is 100% owned by Australia’s Lynas Rare Earth Ltd. (formerly known as Lynas Corporation), which owns and operates a mine and concentration plant in Mt Weld (Western Australia, WA)— 800km from WA’s capital, Perth — shipping the ore concentrate 2,899 nautical miles (5,370 km) from Fremantle Port to the Kuantan plant for extraction and processing into RE oxides. In 1992, the WA government granted Lynas’s predecessor Ashton Rare Earth Limited conditional approval for a processing plant in Meenaar industrial estate 100km from Perth [1]. Environmental Protection Authority of Western Australia approval stipulated numerous social and environmental conditions [2]. Mt Weld and Meenaar are ideal mining and refining sites —sparsely populated semi-arid lands with underground aquifers capable of supplying amber water. Choosing, instead, a Malaysian site, Lynas could avoid the stringent Meenaar conditions set by the WA government. Today, LAMP is about 2 km from a residential population of 30,000 and 700,000 people live within a 5km and 25 km radius (including Kuantan city with over 400,000) respectively. Malaysia’s last RE refinery, Asian Rare Earth (ARE) in neighbouring state of Perak, left a toxic legacy involving Asia’s biggest RE clean-up effort costing $100 million [3]. Partly owned and operated by Japan’s Mitsubishi Chemical in the industrial town Bukit Merah, nearby villagers and workers experienced miscarriages, birth defects and unusually high incidence of childhood leukaemia due to poor management of toxic and radioactive wastes, lack of occupational and public health and safety measures, and government inaction despite independent scientific evidence of dangers. ARE closed down in 1992 after 10 years of operation and strong popular actions and protests [4]. A peat mangrove [5] — theoretically protected by law [6] — sits adjacent to the Lynas refinery. The Lynas refinery went ahead without public knowledge, consultation or impact assessment on the peatland, its biologically rich estuary and floodplains, and the marine and coastal ecosystems of the South China Sea, just 5 km from the refinery [7]. Pitched as a ‘green’ supplier of materials for low-emission technologies vital to tackling climate change, it is ironic that Lynas has located its refinery in this rich tropical peatland, which stores huge amount of carbon dioxide emitted whenever burnt in the drought season, exposed or disturbed. Instead, this landscape should be protected for mitigating climate change and offering adaptive ecosystem services to local communities [8] [9]. Malaysia’s biggest ever environmental campaign [10] — described as the country’s “most far reaching experience with a popular environmental resistance” [11] — evolved as local, Australian and international environmentalists became alarmed by the secrecy surrounding the refinery, the fast-tracked approval, a 12-year tax break granted Lynas as a Malaysian government foreign direct investment incentive, the vulnerable social and ecological environment in which the refinery had been placed and prior experience of tragedies with Bukit Merah [12][13]. On May 15, 2011, about 100 people organised by DAP Kuantan gathered at the refinery to demonstrate before police moved in to arrest four individuals stretched out on a banner showing a radioactive symbol. The four were DAP Pahang publicity secretary Chow Yu Hui, organising secretary Lee Chin Chen, Khor Hui Ying and Thing Siew Shuen [23]. On June 22, 2014, thousands of protestors organized by NGO Himpunan Hijau (¨green assembly¨) gathered outside the Kuantan facility when guards began violently disrupting the crowd. 16 protestors including Australian-based activist Natalie Lowrey were arrested and detained in a Kuantan prison while two others were hospitalized after guards beat them. Her arrest became high-profile, inciting worldwide protests and a petition signed by 15,000 people calling for her release [21] [22]. In December 2018, a newly elected government demanded that Lynas ship back its refinery waste to Australia by September 2019 or else they would not have their license renewed. This caused the company´s stock price to fall by more than half [20]. In August 2019, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad extended Lynas´operating license by 3 years under the condition that Lynas stop importing radioactive materials by July 2023 [25]. In response, protestors continued mobilizing, such as chemical enginer turned activist Moses Lim, who brings up concerns that "[The radioactivity] will be passed through our children and our children's children [24]. On April 28, 2021, thanks to the joint efforts of Save Malaysia Stop Lynas (SMSL), Sahabat Alam Malaysia (Friends of the Earth), Aid/Watch Australia and political parties such as the Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM), Lynas failed an environmental impact analysis for a proposal to build a permanent toxic and radioactive waste dump in a water catchment in a rainforest reserve. The proposed waste dump would be sited in a forest on Bukit Ketam that feeds two rivers that Kuantan uses to supply 90% of the population with drinking water [25]. However, a new site in a peat swamp is now being developed for the waste dump. The dump has been awarded to a company GSSB owned by the Regent of Pahang. GSSB has no experience in building a municipal landfill, let alone a radioactive waste dump that requires scientifically robust isolation of the hazardous materials of the waste. Aid/Watch and Malaysian groups are advocating for the 1+ million tones of radioactive waste to be removed from Malaysia. Under Western Australian guideline for this type of waste, Lynas must return it to its mine site in Mt Weld to be managed under a low-level radioactive waste management plan. |
Name of conflict: | Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP) in Gebeng/Kuantan, Malaysia |
Country: | Malaysia |
State or province: | Pahang |
Location of conflict: | Region surrounding Gebeng Industrial Estate, Kuantan |
Accuracy of location | HIGH (Local level) |
Type of conflict. 1st level: | Waste Management |
Type of conflict. 2nd level: | Chemical industries Landfills, toxic waste treatment, uncontrolled dump sites Mineral processing |
Specific commodities: | Rare metals Water Industrial waste |
Project details | Initially, expected production from Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP) in Phase 1 was 11,000 tonnes rare earth oxides (REO) and, in Phase 2, operating at full capacity 22,000 tonnes of REO [14] from an annual import of 66,000 tonnes of Western Australian RE concentrate, a level of production from the Mt Weld concentrator requiring around 240,000 tonnes ore [15]. With respect to hazardous and radioactive wastes, the refinery processes require copious chemicals and reagents, such as concentrated sulphuric acid, magnesium oxide, hydrochloric acid and phosphoric acid. Moreover, large amounts of water and natural gas are required to extract the REOs. Through the processes of flue gas desulphurisation, water-leach purification and neutralisation underflow, flue gas and water wastes are generated. [16] The expected waste from LAMP operating and producing at full capacity was 100,000 cubic meters of waste gas and 500 cubic meters (or tonnes) of wastewater every hour and, annually, 64,000 tonnes of radioactive gypsum waste containing 106 tonnes thorium and 5.6 tonnes uranium (both radioactive) and around 215,000 tonnes of supposedly non-radioactive gypsum. It is unlikely that this level of waste could be contained at the current facility were the refinery to work at full capacity year in year out. [Table 5.5.1 and 5.5.2 in 17]. Moreover, given that Lynas did not follow best practices by establishing a pilot plant, it is quite likely that gypsum, waste gas and wastewater produced might contain other contaminants neither identified by Lynas and the Department of Environment (Malaysia), not the Atomic Energy Licensing Board and International Atomic Energy Agency. In fact, annual REO production reached 8,799 tonnes to the end of the financial year 30 June 2015, a considerable improvement on the 3965 tonnes in the year prior. [18, p. 2]. Furthermore, for the financial year ending 30 June 2016, Lynas produced 12,360 tonnes of REO, including 3897 tonnes of niodymium-phraseodymium [19, p. 3]. |
Project area: | 130Ha |
Level of Investment for the conflictive project | Total assets in 2014–2015 were around A$850mn [18, p. 47]. This figure does not include reductions associated with considerable debts meaning net assets were valued at less than $200mn in the financial year ending mid-2015 [18, p. 47]. |
Type of population | Semi-urban |
Start of the conflict: | 08/03/2011 |
Company names or state enterprises: | Lynas Rare Earth (Ltd.) formerly known as Lynas Corporation from Australia Ashton Rare Earth Limited from Australia Asian Rare Earth from Australia Mitsubishi Chemical from Japan |
Relevant government actors: | Malaysian Ministry of Sciences, Technology and Innovations (MOSTI) Malaysian Government's Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) Malaysian Minister for Environment and Climate Change Malaysian Parliament Select Committee Western Australian Environmental Protection Authority Western Australian Government (mining regulations and royalties) Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment Malaysia Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) |
International and Finance Institutions | International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) - Two official reviews at the request of the Malaysian Governemnt |
Environmental justice organizations (and other supporters) and their websites, if available: | Save Malaysia Stop Lynas — http://savemalaysia-stoplynas.blogspot.com/ Friends of the Earth Malaysia (Sahabat Alam) — http://www.foe-malaysia.org/ Stop Lynas Australia — Aid/watch Australia - https://aidwatch.org.au/stop-lynas/ http://stoplynas.org/ BADAR (Balok Anti-Radioactive and Rare Earth group) Himpunan Hijau (Green Assembly) — https://www.facebook.com/Himpunan-Hijau-20-Langkah-Lestari-156138757834195 Stop Lynas Coalition — https://www.facebook.com/Stop-Lynas-Coalition-SLC-269265829774813/ |
Intensity | MEDIUM (street protests, visible mobilization) |
Reaction stage | In REACTION to the implementation (during construction or operation) |
Groups mobilizing: | International ejos Local ejos Local government/political parties Neighbours/citizens/communities Social movements Women Local scientists/professionals Religious groups small local tourist operators property/land owners senior citizens Fisher people |
Forms of mobilization: | Appeals/recourse to economic valuation of the environment Development of a network/collective action Hunger strikes and self immolation Public campaigns Artistic and creative actions (eg guerilla theatre, murals) Involvement of national and international NGOs Blockades Lawsuits, court cases, judicial activism Boycotts of official procedures/non-participation in official processes Media based activism/alternative media Shareholder/financial activism. Objections to the EIA Street protest/marches Creation of alternative reports/knowledge Development of alternative proposals Official complaint letters and petitions |
Environmental Impacts | Visible: Air pollution, Biodiversity loss (wildlife, agro-diversity), Loss of landscape/aesthetic degradation, Waste overflow, Deforestation and loss of vegetation cover, Surface water pollution / Decreasing water (physico-chemical, biological) quality, Groundwater pollution or depletion, Reduced ecological / hydrological connectivity, Soil contamination Potential: Fires, Food insecurity (crop damage), Global warming, Soil erosion, Other Environmental impacts |
Other Environmental impacts | Radiation hazards and risks |
Health Impacts | Visible: Accidents, Occupational disease and accidents, Deaths Potential: Exposure to unknown or uncertain complex risks (radiation, etc…), Other environmental related diseases, Other Health impacts |
Other Health impacts | Radiation exposure health hazards and risks for workers and communities Air pollution from noxious gases |
Socio-economical Impacts | Visible: Increase in Corruption/Co-optation of different actors, Militarization and increased police presence, Specific impacts on women, Violations of human rights Potential: Loss of livelihood, Social problems (alcoholism, prostitution, etc..), Loss of landscape/sense of place, Other socio-economic impacts |
Other socio-economic impacts | Livelihood impacts on people gaining an income from fishery and tourism |
Project Status | In operation |
Conflict outcome / response: | Corruption Criminalization of activists Court decision (failure for environmental justice) Court decision (undecided) Migration/displacement Repression Violent targeting of activists The company invested a lot in public relations to polish up its tarnished image. It has played geopolitical conflicts between the West and China to gain further financial resources to expand its operations to Texas in the USA and Kalgoorlie in Australia, while putting pressure on Malaysia to accept the raw deal and its toxic radioactive waste. |
Proposal and development of alternatives: | Lynas, the owner of the secondary processing plant in Kuantan should: - adopt established international best practice radioactive waste and pollution management approaches. - uphold its own legal undertakings to remove the radioactive waste from Malaysia, and return it to its Mt Weld Mine site to be managed under Australian standard and guidelines. - adhere to IAEA recommendations to make its monitoring data and EIAs publicly accessible to be transparent and accountable. - Clean up polluted sites and its pollution independent and transparent monitoring measures. - refrained from issuing legal threats to the media and its critics to try to silent them |
Do you consider this an environmental justice success? Was environmental justice served?: | No |
Briefly explain: | The massive quantity of radioactive waste generated and accumulating by the plant has beed a serious source of hazards. By contracting a politically linked company GSSB for the construction of the waste dump, Lynas has essentially secured powerful support for its radioactive toxic legacy to remain in Malaysia against public outcry and disapproval. The campaign managed to attract a lot of international media attention and stopped bigger contracts being pursued by major buyer. Lynas share values plummeted due to negative publicity and financial risks and because prices of rare earth elements dropped. Lynas remains under scrutiny |
References to published books, academic articles, movies or published documentaries |
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Related media links to videos, campaigns, social network |
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Contributor: | Anitra Nelson and Lee Tan, Australian Environmnetal Justice, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University — [email protected] |
Last update | 09/12/2016 |
Conflict ID: | 2167 |
Images |
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Anti-Lynas campaign poster
Save Malaysia — Stop Lynas
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