The main rare earth producer outside China presents figures for the quarter ended September.
The Australian rare earth specialist Lynas has had a mixed quarter, according to its own words (PDF). Today’s figures show a decline in sales of almost eleven percent to the equivalent of 81 million US dollars compared to the previous quarter. According to the company, this was due to lower product prices. Lynas also announced that operations at its refinery in Malaysia would largely come to a standstill from mid-November due to modernization measures. They are intended to increase production capacity for neodymium-praseodymium. This sounds surprising initially since the Malaysian government has banned Lynas from importing rare earth concentrate and further processing it as of January 1, 2024. On the one hand, the company has appealed against this decision. Still, on the other hand, the additional capacities are also necessary when the processing plant under construction in Kalgoorlie, Australia, starts up operations. A large part of the workforce has been sent from Malaysia to Australia to accelerate this.
Photo: iStock/graffoto8
