Lynas to continue Malaysian RE output despite lockdown

Australia's Lynas Rare Earths will continue to operate its processing plant at Kuantan in Malaysia during a Covid-19 related Movement Control Order (MCO) imposed by the Malaysian government for 12 May-7 June.

"Consistent with the MCO and previous updates, the Lynas Malaysia plant continues to operate with standard operating procedures in place," the company said. The MCO permits all economic sectors to continue to operate.

Lynas mines raw material at Mount Weld in Western Australia and ships it to Malaysia for processing and separation into rare earth products.

It reported total rare earth oxide output of 4,463t during January-March, up from 3,410t for October-December. This included January-March output of 1,359t of permanent magnet battery metals neodymium-praseodymium.

By Angus Macmillan