Lynas says Pahang Bar lied
By Debra Chong, The Malaysian Insider
Lynas Corp denied today it is hiding vital information behind its decision to ship rare earth ore mined from its homeland some 3,000km to be processed in Malaysia as alleged by the Pahang Bar.
Pahang Bar chief Hon Kai Ping revealed on Tuesday his team of lawyers had unearthed the minutes of the meeting of the Council of the Shire of Northam dating back to November 23, 2005 which recorded the local government “vigorously opposes the siting of a hazardous waste disposal and treatment plant at the Avon Industrial Park (in Meenar) based on the negative perceptions that the location will cause to Grass Valley, the Town of Northam and the Avon region.”
The document, Hon said, stated among other things: “The Town of Northam, along with other Councils in the Avon Valley, has been promoting the Valley as a clean and green tourism and lifestyle experience. Having a hazardous waste site on the Town’s doorstep would undo a lot of the work that has been undertaken by Council…”
“Pahang Bar is not certain but this may or may not throw some light as to why the proposal was not proceeded with despite all the convenience of distance as there is a highway running from Mount Weld, Laverton to the Town of Northam with no necessity of shipping the ore overseas,” he said in a media statement.
In a response to The Malaysian Insider yesterday, the Australian miner called the lawyer’s statement a “false allegation regarding the values and ethics of the board and management of Lynas Corporation as well as false accusations regarding the Lynas Advanced Materials Plant”.
The Sydney-based company said it was shocked that a professional body like the Pahang Bar could issue statements “that are potentially misleading to the public”.
“Lynas Corporation had absolutely no interest and was not connected whatsoever with a hazardous waste disposal and treatment site in the Avon Valley,” it said in a statement.
“The minutes of the meeting of the Council of the Shire of Northam dating back to November 23, 2005 do not even mention Lynas Corporation, or a rare earths refinery,” it pointed out.
“What these meeting minutes reveal is a normal government initiative to deal with standard issues of waste management in Western Australia,” Lynas said, providing a copy of what it said were the council’s minutes and a letter purportedly from Northam shire’s CEO Neville A. Hale to support its statement.
The undated letter to Mathew James, Lynas’ vice-president in charge of business development, stated “no formal request for consideration of a rare earth facility has been considered by either the former Town of Northam or the subsequent amalgamated entity, the Shire of Northam”.
“I am pleased to confirm that the extract from the minutes of the Town of Northam meeting headed ‘Avon Industrial Park — Hazardous Waste Site’ bears no relationship to any project dealing with rare earth facilities nor Lynas Corporation,” the letter said.
“The matter before the Town Council at the time was a proposed general waste site capable of handling hazardous waste as proposed by the Core Consultative Committee on Waste, a State Government advisory committee,” Hale said in the letter that bore no sign of his office.
