WHY LYNAS CHOOSE MALAYSIA??

Lynas Corporation, Ltd. is an Australian rare earths mining company, listed on the Australian Securities Exchange as a 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 

Malaysia’s proximity to market, access to high quality chemicals, utilities and engineering skills’ coupled with Its transparent regulatory framework make it an ideal location

- Excellent Industrial Infrastructure
Unlike Malaysia, Australia lacks many benefits of comprehensive industrial infrastructure all in a single location i.e. industrial land, plentiful water supplies, natural gas pipelines, stable electricity, and existing manufacturers of chemical reagents used by the LAMP


- Excellent Knowledge Infrastructure
Large chemical industry on Malaysia’s east coast allows Lynas to tap into the local expertise for the 350 high skilled jobs created in LAMP for Malaysian employees. These include chemical engineers, trade skills and service industries that are already readily available on the east coast.


- Excellent Government Infrastructure
Malaysia has clear legal framework and regulations, and Lynas is in line with government’s goals to attract foreign direct investment, to bring higher technology industries to Malaysia to move forward with the Economic Transformation goals of the country.

WHAT IS RARE EARTHS?

1) Where do they come 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 earths 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 are 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.

2) What are they?
Rare Earths are a moderately abundant group of 15 metallic elements known as the Lanthanide series (atomic numbers 57 through to 71) plus Yttrium (39). Although Scandium (atomic number 21) is not a Rare Earth element, it is commonly included with the Lanthanides because of its similar properties.

The 15 lanthanides are represented by the single square of lanthanum in the main part of the periodic table and listed in a separate sub group below the main groupings.

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.

WHAT DO THEY DO?

1) Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Global warming due to green house gas emissions is a concern for us all. Rare Earths already play a vital role in the reduction of green house gas emissions.

Many scientists believe that global warming is caused by a human-driven increase in greenhouse gases in the earth’s atmosphere. Our society is becoming more aware of the part we have to play in addressing global warming. Governments of today are now legislating higher environmental and lower emission standards in both domestic and industrial settings.Rare Earths are playing a pivotal role in greenhouse gas reduction through their unique application in automotive catalytic converters, hybrid vehicles, and energy efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs.

2) Enabling Digital Technology

The digital era is gathering pace; broadband access, digital television, digital cameras, and digital music are around us at home and on the move – Rare Earths are enablers of this technology and its miniaturisation.

New materials and novel applications of them enable companies to produce more efficient, higher performance materials which meet the demand for faster, smaller and lighter products.

3) Improving Energy Efficiency

Increased population and economic growth leads to greater demand of the world’s energy, which means increased use of our limited fossil fuel reserves. Rare Earths are already playing a vital role in conservation of these reserves, and are likely to play an even larger role in taking us forward to the hydrogen economy.

The world’s fossil fuels are limited, however with the billions of dollars invested in the global oil and gas infrastructure it is important we use these reserves efficiently.

Rare Earths are supporting the uptake of energy efficient initiatives through their unique physical and chemical properties, which allow them to; protect the environment by lowering energy consumption; and improve lifestyles through energy efficient alternatives that save money without sacrificing comfort and reliability.

WHAT ARE THEIR PRICES?

The first point to note about Rare Earths prices is that there is significant variance in the relative market value for selected Rare Earths oxides. Secondly, the price of Rare Earths depends on the purity level, which is largely set by the specifications for each application.

The table below shows the average annual price for a 'standard 99% purity of individual elements and for the generic composite of Rare earths equivalent to the Rare Earths distribution at Mt Weld. Prices are quoted in US$/kg on an FOB China basis. Note that higher purity oxides and other value added properties will attract higher prices than those shown.

FOB China Prices

   Source : Metal Pages

Note: Mt Weld distribution totals 98.9%, the balance is made up of Gadolinium, Holmium, Erbium and Yttrium oxides. Regular pricing information is not available for these metals.

The table below shows the domestic Chinese price (the price inside China) for Rare Earths in US$/kg; the domestic price is related to the FOB price and can be calculated by taking FOB price less VAT, less export taxes (which range for 15% to 25%), the export quota cost; there may be some timing differences between the movements of internal and external China prices. The average price shown is based on the Mt Weld distribution.

China Domestic Prices

   Source : Metal Pages

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