KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s lack of expertise and technology in rare earth elements (REE) is a key factor slowing the industry’s rapid development, according to Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Minister Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani.
Johari said a major obstacle is the lack of processing plants needed to separate high-value REE elements from local sources, which has hindered the industry’s growth.
“Although many claim to have related expertise and technology, this has yet to be proven at a commercial scale,” he said in response to a question from Datuk Dr Ku Abd Rahman Ku Ismail, the member of parliament for Kubang Pasu.
The minister also highlighted that China, which currently dominates the global REE value chain, has a policy that bans the export of related technology to maintain its dominance.
To support the development of local processing plants, Johari said the government has imposed a moratorium on raw REE exports. He called this a strategic decision to prevent the raw mining and export of REE resources, which could harm the country in the long term.
Other challenges include insufficient detailed data on the location, quantity, and land use status of REE resources. Preliminary studies in 2019 by the Department of Minerals and Geoscience Malaysia estimated potential resources at 16.1 million metric tonnes, but this is an inferred figure that requires further validation.
Johari said government policies also restrict mining activities in permanent reserved forests, environmentally sensitive areas, and protection reserves.
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