investigation
Lynas Rare Earths, the prince, the heiress and a big Malaysian mess

Malaysian royalty and the daughter of a dead politician can be revealed as the owners of a mysterious company building a facility to store toxic waste from Lynas Rare Earths’ refinery in Malaysia. The waste dump project has been hit by a big cost blowout. Pahang, Malaysia’s biggest state by area, is known for its vast mountains, dense rainforests and web of ochre-stained rivers. Nestled within the lush landscape is a 100 hectare industrial site that houses one of the western world’s most important amalgamations of smoke stacks and steel pipes. Perth-based Lynas since 2012 has fed the rare earth elements it extracts from WA dirt through a mineral refinery on this site. The refinery is the world’s largest processing hub for rare earths outside of China. But processing this group of elements that are essential to create coveted modern hardware like MRI machines and precision-guided missiles, is a complicated and messy process. The byproducts left behind include what Lynas labels a “low-level” radioactive phosphate residue, the existence of which has sparked multiple waves of protests and legal action from locals in Pahang. These critics believe Lynas is underplaying the toxicity of the residue and using Malaysia as a dumping ground for dangerous waste, because running such an operation in Australia would be politically unpalatable. At the onset of 2020, just weeks before COVID-19 brought the world to a halt, Lynas was ordered by Malaysian authorities to build a “permanent disposal facility” for the radioactive remnants of its rare earths production. Lynas appointed Gading Senggara Sdn Bhd as the contractor to manage the entire PDF project, telling the market on January 30 that year GSSB was “a government-appointed concessionaire” with the licence for industrial waste disposal across the east coast region of Peninsular Malaysia. But the extent of GSSB’s links to government were not divulged and the faces behind the contractor remained a mystery. GSSB’s website and marketing documents shed scarce light on its leadership and ownership. Documents obtained by The West Australian show GSSB has two shareholders that evenly own the company. One half is owned by Tengku Hassanal Ibrahim Alam Shah, the 29-year-old Crown Prince of Pahang. Prince Shah was also regent to the Malaysian throne until his father was succeeded as king of the country last year. Malaysia practices a unique rotational monarchy, where the king’s crown is passed around every five years between the rulers of the country’s nine states. The other half of GSSB is in the hands of Siti Amira Nur Syafiqah. She is the daughter of Johari Harun, a high-ranking Pahang lawmaker who reportedly died in 2023 after a small private plane he was travelling on crashed into a motorbike and car while attempting to make an emergency landing. Licensing limbo The relationship between Lynas and Malaysia’s government had been uneasy even before production started more than 12 years ago, but tensions hit breaking point in February 2023 when Lynas had strict conditions slapped on its operating licence. This included a ban on importing the WA rare earth concentrate that creates the radioactive residue when processed, effectively leaving the refinery hamstrung. However, the ban was sensationally overturned in October that year. The licence U-turn during came in the same year a massive liability emerged in Lynas’ most recent set of accounts. When Lynas contracted GSSB in 2020 to construct and “manage the entire PDF project”, it told investors the total cost would be $128.4m, which was reflected as a provision in the company’s financial statements. That provision would balloon during the 2024 financial year, the same financial year Lynas would get major restrictions on its operating licence lifted. “During FY24, Lynas has re-estimated the cost to permanently store neutralization underflow residue in a permanent disposal facility,” Lynas stated in August. “As a result, an additional $117.9m has been included in the provision.” Neutralisation underflow is a non-radioactive and non-toxic residue, Lynas says. The fight continues “We have been asking the (Malaysian) Government to release relevant environmental and health monitoring data for years and nothing has been provided,” Aid/Watch policy co-ordinator Lee Tan told The West Australian. “Instead we got from the local media there that the government declared that the wastewater is cleaner than the river itself, which is ridiculous, and again without any data to back up the claim. “We have not seen any test data for radioactive materials, which should have been done and made public. It’s worrying that people fish and children play in the estuary where Lynas’ wastewater flows into the South China Sea.” Lynas ignored multiple requests for comment by The West Australian.

investigationLynas Rare Earths, the prince, the heiress and a big Malaysian mess

investigation
Lynas Rare Earths, the prince, the heiress and a big Malaysian mess