Lynas Rare Earths received a three-year extension to the operating licence for the Lynas Advanced Materials Plant in Malaysia.    

On February 14th, Lynas Rare Earths (Lynas) received confirmation from the Malaysian Department of Atomic Energy that the operating licence for the Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP) had been extended. The operating licence extension allows the LAMP to continue operations until March 2026, though criteria prohibiting Lynas from importing and processing ‘lanthanide concentrates’ beyond 1st July 2023 remain unchanged. Lynas currently imports monazite mineral concentrates from their Mt. Weld operation in Australia, undertaking a cracking and leaching (C&L) process at the LAMP in Malaysia. 

The ban on Lynas importing these concentrates into Malaysia will effectively cease C&L of mineral concentrates at the LAMP, though separation of mixed rare earth compounds will be maintained. Lynas is in the process of constructing a stand-alone C&L facility in Kalgoorlie, Australia, replacing the C&L stage at the LAMP facility. Time is running short however for the Kalgoorlie facility to be constructed, commissioned and ramped up by July, to avoid Lynas becoming reliant on processing inventories or potentially third-party material.  

As the largest non-China-based producer of separated rare earth products, any long-term disruption to Lynas’ operations and output could have wide-reaching impacts on rare earth supply chains, particularly in Japan which imports Nd-Pr compounds from Lynas for manufacturing of rare earth permanent magnets.