Lynas Rare Earths is set to appeal to the Malaysian Government today about unfavourable license conditions that threaten to interrupt its operations. But despite the impending battle, the company recorded strong results for the March quarter.
In terms of operations, the company called the results were “excellent”.
“Neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr) production of 1,725 tonnes was the highest ever quarterly production at the Lynas Malaysia plant,” the company told the market.
“This was achieved despite a general shutdown of the Lynas Malaysia plant for over 3 days whilst tie-in works for the mixed rare earth carbonate (MREC) receival facility were undertaken.
“The strong NdPr production result is the outcome of plant efficiency improvements and no significant downtime from external events.”
Lynas clocked in $237.1 million in quarterly sales revenue, up from $217.5 million in the previous quarter.
Closing cash and short term deposits counted over $1.1 billion.
The license conditions on the company’s Malaysian operations will prohibit the import and processing of lanthide, which will require the closure of the cracking and leaching component of the Lynas Malaysia plant.
Cracking and leaching leaves behind low-level radioactive waste, which the Malaysian Government seems no longer willing to tolerate.
Lynas has been racing to ramp up its Kalgoorlie rare earths processing facility to pick up the slack left by changes to its Malaysian operations.
“The Kalgoorlie… project has now entered the final phase of major construction activities and dry commissioning activities have commenced in certain parts of the plant,” the announcement said.
“We retain a target feed on date for the Kalgoorlie Facility in Q4 FY2023.”
When the expansion is complete, Lynas will undertake the cracking and leaching of rare earths in Kalgoorlie, before sending the intermediate product to Malaysia.
But the Kalgoorlie expansion won’t be on its feet until at least August, leaving a potential three-month void of rare earth supply.
Though the appeal will be heard today, there is no timeframe under Malaysian law by when the Minister is required to make a decision.