Malaysian backlash against the Lynas rare earth refinery project in Gebeng, Kuantan
Posted on May 16, 2011
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Hawkeye
May 16, 2011
Protest rally this Friday 20 May 2011 at 2.30PM from KLCC to Australian Embassy. Check here fro details: http://hawkeyejack.blogspot.com/2011/05/save-malaysia-stop-lynas.html
mauriyaII
May 17, 2011
Brother Haris,
This would be another futile attempt to awaken the dead and buried conscience of the Malaysian government. The Australians are no better when they export their toxic minerals to other countries. They should realize that human beings are the same everywhere. A Malaysian life is not inferior or useless to that of an Aussie.
The PDRM goons would be geared with their batons, water cannons and brutish behaviour to povoke and create mayhem in the hope to unleash their SOP.
No harm in trying. Inactiony and passiveness only encourages tyrants and bullys to implement their political and economic agenda with impunity.
Good luck and God Bless.
mauriyaII
May 17, 2011
errata: .. povoke shoud read provoke..
Inactiony should be Inaction.
Sorry for the typing errors.
charlie chan
May 17, 2011
oh kuantan , poor kuantan folks will be affected, show me the money n ########. sorry the govt takes care of you n give you jobs , so why complain
shakuntala
May 17, 2011
So the whole idea of bull-dozing this vile project, and sullying Kuantan, Malaysia, is for the Australian Lynas Corporation to be a world leader in rare earth.
Supposed to be the company’s Vision….for a sustainable future…future for whom? For gullible human beings like us Malaysians, to live a healthy life,while breathing toxic waste?
The international panel will be supplied with a dosage of attractive words in their blue print for their investigations into the company’s feasibility to operate here.
We know the answer….we should not be duped into the minster saying that the peoples’s concerns are being given top priority.
The Australian company has already been given the priority with a 12 year tax rebate.
Time indeed to protest over a matter of life….our precious lives and that of generations to come.
Also to stop moneyed-robbers from disturbing Mother Earth…our side of it, anyway. Go, dial another number…. blasted LYNAS!
temenggong
May 18, 2011
We need the rare earths. The IT world and medical equipment depends on it.
I don’t think anybody is suggesting we do away with computers, X-Ray and MRI scans.
Where shall we mine and process it? Adequate safety measures is all that is required.
I am for the project.
storm62
May 21, 2011
then they should built the plant in your neighbourhood….
temenggong
June 12, 2011
Sure.
We just need International Atomic Energy Commission certification of the transport, processing and storage of materials and waste with acceptable safety standards.
If Malaysians, or anybody wants to reap the uses and benefits of REE, then they should process it in their own countries and not elsewhere.
Here are some of the common uses of REE:
fluorescent lamps, PET Scan detectors, high refractive index glass, X-ray machines, Lasers, computer memories, MRI contrast agent, violet colors in glass, ceramic capacitors, carbon arc lighting, colorant in glasses and enamels, Didymium glass used in welding goggles, Chemical oxidizing agent, polishing powder, yellow colors in glass and ceramics, catalytic cracking catalyst for oil refineries, alloy for aerospace components, additive in Mercury-vapor lamps.
No REE, then no computer, no handphone, no X-ray, no MRI scans.
Note that the industrial age is not possible without REE. We’ll be back to the 1900.
Amus
June 13, 2011
@temenggong,
Who decides that kuantan folks should bear the burden and consequences of the toxic waste left behind by lynas refinery ?
We were given assurance that this project is safe and yet experiences and studies in the west demonstrated time and time again that such radioactive waste is anything but safe
(http://www.ratical.org/radiation/SecretFallout/#TOC) and
—
“Deadly Deceit, Low-Level Radiation, High-Level Coverup” by Dr. Jay Gould and Benjamin A. Goldman with Kate Millpointer, published by Four Walls Eight Windows, New York
http://www.ratical.org/radiation/inetSeries/DDnot2late.txt
—–
If good industrial practice for such a project is followed, as recommended by EPA, then the radioactive waste should be put back into the hole it was taken from.
Lynas claimed that they do recycling of the various waste stream – water and air. Instead of shipping the ore over here why not we ship our water, acid and alkali over to them. They can then bury the waste back into the ground where the ore was taken from.
Btw. when I raised a few questions at the “Facts about Lynas” facebook group, I was kicked out. I was asking questions that they were avoiding or provided answers that revealed what they were intending to do which was dangerous and irresponsible.
temenggong
June 15, 2011
I don’t want you to miss the point; if the IAEC and our Puspati give the clearance, then we can go ahead. No authority anywhere will give the go ahead unless everything is within permissible limits.
Amus
July 3, 2011
@temenggong,
I think you miss the point. AELB gave the assurance and even had “evidence” to prove that the bukit merah plant was safe. Utusan and all the other vile organ of communication of umno went to town to say that it was safe and all you folks were getting sick were because of your own doing.
During the injunction hearing ARE who hired their own consultant and the residence committee who went in to make their own measurement found that AELB were lying. It was fortunate that ARE did not attempt to coverup the mess.
IAEA report is now out and read carefully the caveat and reservation that they had stated. The design of the plant may comply with international standard but its operations may not.
temenggong
July 3, 2011
Compliance, then. Compliance.
This video clears a lot of the misinformation on nuclear power reactors.
mauriyaII
May 18, 2011
Why is the UMNO led Barisan Neraka government hellbent on this toxic industry? Who in government gave the green light for this nefarious project to poison the people around the toxic industry? How much MONEY and other perks did he get from the BN and the Aussies? Who are the people most affected by this idiotic project? Are they regular voters for the opposition? Is this the BN’s latest method to vipe out opposition supporters?
The organizers should take a poll to see how many of the affected people are at proposed peaceful demonstration.
Sometimes people take the easy way out. They let others fight for them and get blasted by the rogues in PDRM. These are the people who clamour for CHANGE but do not have the guts to do whatever is neccessary to CHANGE the Barang Naik government.
The organizers should make it a point to video shoot the occasion and upload it on YOUTUBE for the whole world to see how this useless government uses its police goons to subdue and harass its citizens.
BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS violations and the utter discard for the letter and spirit of the Constitution of the country by this racist government should be highlighted to all free and right thinking people.
Whenever the PM goes overseas he makes it a public relations and syiok sendiri (self gratification) as spelled out by APCO. He declares MODERATION, THE RULE OF LAW AND FREEDOM OF WORSHIP as if Malaysia is a secular country but the VERY OPPOSITE is practised in the country.
Bibles are desecrated. The term “ALLAH” has become the property of the Malay Muslim UMNOputras. The UMNO owned newspaper, the Utusan Malaysia is given extraordinary rights to publish seditious drivel. Pornographic videos are screened by UMNO datuks and parts are uploaded in YouTube to bring down an opposition leader. The Opposition leaders’s grandchild is targetted for kidnapping thru SMS and yet the rogue PDRM does not show any urgency to nab the culprit. The UMNO annointed PERKASA and its leader Katak Ibrahim is given the blessings of the ruling government and its mentor, the evil Mamakthir Mohamad Kutty to try and bait the Christians by decaring that they are prepared for a JIHAD against the Christian community. The above are just a few of the atrocities that Barisan Neraka and its leader Najib Abd Razak has connived and condoned. The very fact they are not charged for SEDITION shows the government is behind the whole charade.
Instead of taking the bull by its horns and solving the many economic and social ills in the country, the PM goes on his regular PR jaunts to hoodwink the world. What a shameless hypocrite!
ThomasT
May 28, 2011
It cannpot be safe, because accidnts happen. Not only for the thorium 232 alpha particles that may be released into the air in dust, (lung cancer), and in water, (liver cancers etc.), but for the accidental release of highly toxic gases that are also a by product, fluorine and sulphur dioxide, and the millions of gallons of waste water loaded with cadmium.
How will they clean the air? How will they clean the millios of gallons of cadmium contaminated water. They havent said!! Japan already had a cadmium disaster at Minamata. Does Malaysia need another cadmium dissster?
Further, the experts who will evaluate this plant, said that Fukushima was safe, even with NO protective wall around the cooling pumps. These were destroyed by the tsunami. Other Japanese Nuke plants had built massive sea walls there, and that saved them.
These are same experts who told Thailand that Nuke Plants are 100% safe, just before Fukushima blew its brains out. They are part of the industry, and they lie. They will NOT discuss accidts, yet accidents happen!
They happened at Chernobyl, (I million dead according to medics, denied by UN), 3 Mile Island, USA, Sellafield UK, and in Germany and France.
In the United States, very old laws still allow rare earth businesses to meet much less stringent standards for radioactivity in products and waste than other industries, precisely because… it is SO HARD to really handle these materials cleanly!!
The New York Times reported last October, that the tailings pond at Baotou, China is leaking an underground bloom of thorium that is moving toward the Yellow River at 300 meters per year; the river is 7 kilometers away. The Chinese have since confirmed this.
China’s rare earth industry each year produces more than five times the amount of waste gas, including deadly fluorine and sulfur dioxide, than the total flared annually by all miners and oil refiners in the U.S. Alongside that 13 billion cubic meters of gas comes 25 million tons of waste water laced with cancer-causing heavy metals such as cadmium.
Wake up Malaysia and say NO before they get a licnece, for after taht, it wil be TOO LATE.
ThomasT
May 28, 2011
We also read that
On one hand, Lynas’ executive chairman Nicholas Curtis claims that they have permission from the government to store the waste onsite forever. On the other, AELB’s (Atomic Energy Licensing Board) director general Raja Datuk Abdul Aziz Raja refutes that claim in saying that the plant can only store waste temporarily. If the onsite storage is temporary, where will the waste be shipped to next? It will definitely not be bound for its place of origin Australia, after Western Australian minister for mines and petroleum, fisheries and electoral affairs Norman Moore flatly rejected calls to take back Lynas’ radioactive waste.
Moreover, Raja Aziz claims that Lynas’ waste is safe enough to be scattered everywhere if Lynas can keep the thorium level in its waste to 1,600 parts per million. Then again, if the waste is safe, why is it necessary for Lynas to build storage pools for it, and why does Raja Aziz refuse permission for Lynas to store the waste permanently? The most plausible explanation is that neither Lynas nor AELB are confident that the ‘safe’ thorium level can be met. If that is the case, the authorities have betrayed the people of Kuantan by exposing them to unknown and unnecessary health risks.
And, we also read that radon, a radioactive gas is released during the REE refining.
And, that Lynas refuses to comment whether the REE ores they will import from Malawi, (Central East Afica), will or will not contain uranium, as is suspected.
One wonders what brave Malaysians would go to work to such an industrial estate, knowing what may happen close-by if here is an accidental polluted spill, such as a gas escape, dust escape, water escape etc. (That is if Lynas can find some brave enough to work for them, now the cat is out of the bag)!!
Why is all this not head-lined in Malaysian newspapers? Are the reporters gagged??
Amus
June 13, 2011
In the “Facts about Lynas” facebook group I asked Paul, one of those super slick comm experts, how 1600 ppm in the starting ore could end up as 1600 ppm in the final waste ? He revealed that the waste, which actually had concentrated the thorium, will be diluted with lime. This lime will be given or sold to third party to make gypsum board. Liming of low radioactive waste had been done in the west and the result was disastrous. 5 legged frogs were found in the field.
They also intend to mix it with something else to give it away as fertiliser as was done in the west. Cow’s milk was contaminated and spread into the food chain and the result was an increase in cancer and leukimia incidences.
tommytcg
June 3, 2011
Ly-nas is Ly-ing!!
Lynas has claimed that their rare earth from Mt Weld is from lanthanide ore, which is naturally low in thorium. On the other hand a research paper by the Australian Parliament claimed otherwise.
Below is an extract from a research paper by the Parliament of Australia.
The levels of naturally occurring Thorium from the Lynas Mount Weld mine in Australia is not considered low, as claimed by Lynas. According to the Parliament of Australia research paper no. 11 2007-08, the main source of Thorium in Australia is the mineral monazite which contains 8–10 per cent Thorium. Based on Lynas Target capacity of 22,000 tons per year rare earth, the Thorium residue in Gebeng is a whopping 1760 tons to 2200 tons, and this will be the amount of radioactive waste/residue generated by Lynas in Gebeng.
tommytcg
June 3, 2011
And..its not only thorium 232..
China’s rare earth industry each year produces more than five times the amount of waste gas, (including deadly fluorine, radio-active radon, and sulfur dioxide), than the total flared annually by all miners and oil refiners in the U.S. Alongside that 13 billion cubic meters of gas comes 25 million tons of waste water laced with cancer-causing, DNA damaging heavy metals such as cadmium. Malaysia plans to refine one third of China`s output of REE!!
Re thorium 232 with its 14 billion year life.
The New York Times reported last October, that the tailings pond at Baotou, China is leaking an underground bloom of thorium that is moving toward the Yellow River at 300 meters per year; the river is 7 kilometers away. The Chinese have since confirmed this.
tommytcg
June 3, 2011
Malaysia is NOT going to save the non-Chinese world with their proposed locally refined REE. (China now controls 95-97% of the REE market).
A massive REE refinery, from the old Soviet era, is about to restart in Kyrgystan. The operator is a Canadian miner, Stans Energy Corp. Stans has just this week sealed the final deals and now owns 100% of the refinery, the railhead, the massive NEARBY mine, plus licence for another large nearby REE find.
This refinery was moth-balled, and is 97% serviceable. It sits 150 kilometres from civilization, with only support staff in the vicinity, so no fear there for the Kyrgys public in case of an accident. It supplied 80% of the Soviet Unions REE, essential for their 1000s of nukes, smart weapons etc.
ThomasT
June 13, 2011
Millions are protesting in Japan this weekend against Nuke Plants. IT TOO BL..DY LATE. The corrupt pro-Nuke IAEA said its was safe. The J regulators allowed Tokoyo Elect. to police themselves!!! There were no sea walls more than 5 metres high, yet they have had a tsunami of 15 metres recorded!!
The power supplies were in the basement of the Nuke plants, in an unprotected tsunami zone!! IAEA didnt care, J regs. didnt vare. Tokyo Elect. didnt care.(Read, IAEA, Malaysian Regs. Lynas)!!! NOW THEY PROTEST ITS TO BL::DY LATE. Three reactors melted down down 3 days after the tsunami when all the undefended pumps and genes. failed. IAEA lied, J Rags Lied, Tokyo Elec-. Lied and said.. no preblems.
Now M Govt will trust the iAEA and the M Regs. ???
Wakey Wakey Malaysia, before its TOO BL::DY LATE to protest.
tommytcg
July 5, 2011
Byron King, a Canadian lawyer/geologist and investment advisor, found out during a Hong Kong REE conference, that a REE refinery in Kyrgystan will re-open later this year, after updating. This refinery supplied the old Soviet Union, and later Russia, with 80% of the REEs needed for their Nuke missiles, smart bombs, jet engines etc.
The refinery lies 150 miles from civilization, right next to its mine!!
Malaysia would thus NOT be saving the non-Ch. world with REEs.
Byron King describing the Kyrgystan refinery makes special note of the piping, that it is of the highest quality stainless steel, and in many cases, glass lined.
Looks like Lynas were going to sneak in under the radar a nasty piece of work
Nobody would know about released raiation, as even a Geiger counter cannot record the alpha particles of thorium 232, as they do not penetrate the sensors!
Nobody woul be running around with an alpha paricle counter anyway, when there exists, as far as anybody knew, just a big plant named LAMP.
LAMP means nothing to you nor me, nor to the unfortunate local staff working in the industrial area, and the villagers nearby.