KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 29): Australian mining and materials company, Lynas Rare Earths Ltd is planning a month-long shutdown of its Malaysian processing plant in the quarter ending in December, but is confident it has enough stockpiles to meet customer demand.
Lynas said in its quarterly report on Thursday that production at the facility near Kuantan is expected to be lower in the three months ending December compared with the September quarter.
But Bloomberg quoted acting chief executive officer Pol Le Roux as saying that the company could continue fulfilling orders with stockpiles.
The shutdown is for electrical inspections and maintenance carried out every three years, including work on the plants’ kilns.
The planned shutdown comes after Lynas Malaysia recorded its highest quarterly production of neodymium- praseodymium (NdPr), a key rare earth compound used to make the powerful magnets used electric vehicles and other technologies.
Production of NdPr rose to 2,082 tonnes in the September quarter, from 1,857 tonnes in the preceding three months, as operations recovered from earlier processing challenges.
Total rare earth oxide production also increased to 4,254 tonnes from 3,481 tonnes in the June quarter.
Separately, Lynas said construction of its expanded heavy rare earths processing facility in Malaysia is progressing, with work currently focused on buildings housing solvent extraction operations, electrical controls and the control room.
It is also expanding its facility here to produce more specialised rare earth materials used in magnets, medical equipment and electronics.