Lynas Partners MARA to Recover Fertilizer from Rare Earth Residues

Lynas rare earth plant announced a partnership with the MARA Corporation Sdn Bhd to mark their collaboration on several key projects. Beside attracting downstream industries and customers, it will also neutralize the bottom stream of plants, and the NUF (Neutralisation Underflow Residue) residues are commercialized and refined into fertilizer for use by Malay farmers.

Lynas and the MARA Corp stated in a joint statement that they will cooperate to commercialize the underflow and solid residues of the rare earth plant.

Datuk Mashal Ahmad, managing director of Lynas Malaysia, said that it has been verified by domestic and foreign experts that the solid residue in the underflow is non-toxic and harmless, and can be used as fertilizers for crops after refining, and they have already some research efforts carried out to confirm the fertilizer effect derived from residues been certified by the Malaysian Industrial Research and Specifications Agency.

He said: "This fertilizer can be used in all food and non-food crops, including oil palm trees and durian trees. The efficacy and safety have been studied and certified by experts, and relevant reports have been published in Europe.”

Mashal Ahmad on behalf of Lynas to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with MARA Corp chairman Akhramsyah Muammar Ubaidah Sanusi, and pointed out during a press conference that plant is a giant impact that can be brought about. In Kuantan, of the 900 staff, 90% are indigenous Malays and only a few are Australians.

Mashal Ahmad said that Malaysia is so close to the high-efficiency rare earth products, but it is a waste of time in unnecessary resistance. "I am pleased with the media. Malaysia needs a big factory like Lynus. We need these jobs. In the past, we were troubled by several organizations that had their agendas and spread rumors without proof. Let us look ahead.”

"Today, I thank the government for making critical decisions based on scientific facts. I am grateful for MARA and I am grateful for the Prime Minister," said Mashal Ahmad recalling how the project was first aimed at creating more downstream industries.

At the meeting, Akhramsyah pointed out that the government did not impose any restrictions on the fertilizers that were extracted from residues. Therefore, he believed that the media should not pay much attention to how the rare earth plants handle residues and should pay attention to the employment opportunities created by downstream industries, and believe that the past disputes let Malaysia wasted decades for not focusing on the full development of the industry.

He said that the government did not oppose the plant and allowed it to continue to operate. However, he also understood that historical factors have caused the Malaysian people to generally avoid the plant, which means the leakage of waste materials from the plants in the past did have an impact.

When mentioning about the investment in the downstream industry and the for-profit market, it can be said the potential of Lynas partners MARA for recovering fertilizer from rare earth residues is too large to estimate.

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