Rare Earth Industries: Moving Malaysia's Green Economy Forward

Recently we have attended a industrial talk by adjunt Professor,Dato'Ir.Dr.Lee Yee Cheong on "Rare Earth Industries:Moving Malaysia's Economy Forward".

Academician Dato' Ir. Dr. Lee Yee Cheong
Academy Sains Malaysia (ASM)
Adjunct Professor for Department of Electrical Power Engineering
Date: 9 March 2012 (Friday)
Time: 3-5pm
Venue: Main Lecture Theatre (DK1), College of IT
 Universiti Tenaga Nasional, Putrajaya Campus





This insightful talk by Dato’ Ir. Dr. Lee Yee Cheong, a spokes person from Akademi Sains Malaysia (ASM) gave us a rare glimpse into this topic in another angle.

Following is a review on the industrial talk written by our friend S.R Ashok:

As we all know lately,the controversial and debate over the “Lynas Corporation’s” project has heated up to another level which goes beyond environmental ethics to just plain politics.
But let’s take away the obvious politics and just focus on the moral and also environmental ethics that may just put a smile on mother natures’ face.
Of cause after the “Bukit Merah” incident, Can we ever trust Lynas? Surely we cannot dismiss the worry of the Malaysian citizens because they do not want history to repeat itself but if that is the basic mentality of the nation, will this country ever venture into bigger and better things which could be nuclear technology?
 Here comes the classic battle between “risk” and “profit” which both plays a major hole in this scenario.
The benefits of rare earth business and its value chain in very well documented over the last 20 years and China have rose to be the dominant figure in this market.
An emperor of China once quoted that if the Middle Eastern have oil, we have rare-earth.
In a business stand point of view, without rare earth products outside of China, it will mean that China will have to invest more and increasingly take charge of the key green technologies that will drive the economy.
With a plant so strategically located in Malaysia, it will put up on the map in this business.
 The biggie is with the extracting, separating and refining process which uses a large number of chemical materials mainly highly concentrated acids.
 This will in turn leads a huge amount of waste gas, waste water and solid waste.
A more detailed figures of the residues is discusses in the ASM’s report.
Based on experience, the Asian Rare Earth (ARE) has reported deteriorating health levels among the people living around the facility and there is a possibility of airborne radioactive contamination.
This is why some eye brows were raised in regards of the location chosen for this facility.  
Another major issue is with waste management which is suggested that the company conduct frequent health scans to the employers and also community nearby and to construct an interim low level storage facility for the first three years of operation.
As for my opinion, unless the government is willing to fork out another US 1 billion, Lynas is going to proceed as planned so the only thing left to do is to keep a very close eye in its operation and not cut corners.


What is you say on this issue?leave your comment in the comments section below!:)