RARE EARTH INDUSTRIES IN MALAYSIA (PART 1)

WHAT IS RARE EARTH?

As defined by IUPC (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry): Set of seventeen chemical elements in the periodic table, specifically the fifteen lanthanides plus scandium and yttrium. 

Figure 1: Periodic Table of the Elements

Scandium and yttrium are considered rare earth elements since they tend to occur in the same

ore deposits as the lanthanides and exhibit similar chemical properties. They range in crustal

abundance from cerium, the most abundant, at 60 parts per million, which is in fact more abundant than nickel or copper, to thulium and lutetium, the least abundant Rare Earth element at about 0.5 parts per million.

WHERE THEY CAME FROM?

Rare Earths are not found as free metals in the earth’s crust, rather within a mixed ‘cocktail’ of Rare Earth elements that need to be separated for their individual or combined commercial use. Despite their name, Rare Earths are relatively abundant in the earth’s crust, however are often of low quality and rarely presented in economic concentration.

China currently supplies approximately 95% of the global Rare Earths market. More than 70% of the supply of light Rare Earths is supplied from one mine in China. Mt Weld, with its very high grade contains light Rare Earths and is also high in Europium, a heavy Rare Earth.

ABOUT LYNAS

Lynas Corporation, Ltd. is an Australian rare earths mining company, listed on the Australian Securities Exchange as an S&P/ASX 200 company. It has two major operations: a mining and concentration plant at Mount Weld, Western Australia, and a refining facility now under construction at Kuantan, Malaysia.

The LAMP (Lynas Advanced Materials Plant) at Kuantan is being built with support from the Malaysian government, with "pioneer" status including a 12-year tax exemption. The overall site construction progress at the end of Q4 2011 was 91% complete. Systematic completion of test packs and pre-commissioning is in progress and approximately 33% completed.  The remaining construction work is actively being coordinated and executed. The ore processing will annually yield several thousand tonnes of waste product (Gypsum) which contains low concentrations of thorium, a radioactive element. Concerns regarding the short and long term storage of this waste material, politicised in the context of forthcoming parliamentary elections, fuelled widespread protests in Malaysia in 2011.

Pros and Cons list of having Rare Earth Industries in Malaysia will be include in Part 2.


Sources:

1. Neil. G Conelly, Richard M. Harshorn, Ture Damhus and Alan T. Hutton. "Nomenclature of Inorganic Chemistry - IUPAC RECOMMENDATIONS 2005 "
2. What Are rare Earth. Retrieved April 09, 2012. From http://www.lynascorp.com/page.asp?category_id=1&page_id=1