VISIT TO LYNAS MALAYSIA SDN. BHD.

Dato' Jumaat Bin Mansor, the General Manager, People & Culture Malaysia of Lynas Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. has welcomed the i-CATS University College Delegation led by the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Emeritus Datuk Ts. Dr. Mohamad Kadim bin Suaidi. The discussions focused on the potential collaborations in research and development of rare earth element (REE) technology processes and student’s industrial placements. The delegation was briefed with the overview of Lynas Malaysia Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP) operations, processes, work force and taken to the site visit of the plant. The three processes undertaken at Lynas Malaysia are:

1. 1. Cracking and leaching
2. Mt Weld concentrate is mixed with concentrated sulphuric acid and cracked at a high temperature to convert the rare earth phosphate minerals to rare earth sulphate. Water is added to the rare earth sulphate in the leaching stage and impurities in the form of iron phosphate are removed. The solution is neutralised to provide rare earth solution as feed to solvent extraction.


3. 2. Solvent Extraction
4. Solvent Extraction (SX) employs two liquid phases (organic and aqueous) and is carried out in liquid-liquid counter current SX trains to progressively separate the rare earths into groups and individual elements and produce a solution.


5. 3. Product finishing
6. In this final stage, the rare earth elements in the solution are precipitated as solid carbonates or oxalates. Some are then calcined (roasted) to make the respective oxides. Lynas Malaysia’s products include NdPr oxide, Ce carbonate, Ce oxide, LaCe carbonate and LaCe oxide, and separated Heavy Rare Earths including Dy oxide, Tb oxide and Sm oxide.

The working visit experience provided valuable insight into industrial-scale rare earth processing and highlighted the strategic importance of Malaysia in the global rare earth supply chain.