COMMENT | In February 2020, regulators imposed a strict licensing condition requiring Lynas to relocate its radioactive cracking and leaching operations back to Australia by July 2023.

This was a mandate that included an explicit ban on importing raw Lanthanide Concentrate to halt the accumulation of radioactive waste in Kuantan.

Yet as the deadline arrived, the government caved, quietly lifting both the relocation requirement and the import ban in October 2023.

By 2026, with over 1.6 million tonnes of radioactive residue already mounded on-site, Lynas capitalised on Putrajaya’s retreat to push for expanded plant capacity fed by uninterrupted shipments of Australian ore.