Effects of Lynas Project in Malaysia

EFFECTS OF LYNAS PROJECT IN MALAYSIA

Rare earth elements are relatively plentiful in the earth’s crust but are more difficult to mine and extract than many other metals because of their chemical properties and geographical dispersal making them relatively more expensive to extract. Rare earth metals widely used to create variety of products. The metals have become increasingly vital to high- technology manufacturing.

Unfortunately, refining rare earth ore will lead to radiation exposure about 30 kilometers around the area. The extraction of rare earths raises a number of environmental and safety concerns because the ore in which rare earths are found are often associated with minerals containing radioactive elements such as uranium and thorium. The radioactive substances release radiation and two major toxic materials called radon gas and lead. Radon is a colorless, odorless toxic gas. When it gets into the human body through inhalation, it can damage cells and cause cancer. As for lead, many years ago petrol gas been changed from leaded to unleaded, as we didn’t want lead to be released to the air through our car exhaust. Lead can harm the nervous system, and cause brain and blood diseases. In addition, rare earth industry will destroy people’s lives, wreck the environment and leave behind a trail of poison that will linger for billions of years, pollute water catchment areas, agricultural land, and nearby river and sea water food chains.

The same project previously had been done in Bukit Merah, Perak in the 1980s. The operation then stopped in 1992. Nearly 20 years it was shut downed, till today the site is still being cleaned up at a cost of over RM300 million and has been linked to at least 8 cases of leukemia, 7 resulting in death. Malaysian had reason to be cautious. Residents have held noisy protests near the plant, fearing a repeat of health problems associated with a Mitsubishi refinery. Another big effect from the previous rare earth project is the fish did not die but become huge. If the same thing happens in Kuantan, Kuantan will send out radiation to the others throughout the fish. Instead of spreading the variation, WHO also did not allowed the fishes to be export beyond the country.

At last, we will get nothing except large quantity of waste. To be more precise it might be 500 cubic meters/hour of waste water, 100,000 cubic meters/hour of waste gas and 280,000 tones/year of solid waste. In terms of employment, The Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP) in Gebeng creates only 350 skilled permanent jobs whereby 70 will need to be filled by university graduates with technical qualifications. Tourism industry as well will be affected especially around the nearest area of LAMP operations includes Cherating and Kemaman. The values of the land tend to be decreased since they realize