Lynas Cracking Plant Gets Government Backing

Lynas Corporation (ASX:LYC,OTC Pink:LYSDY) announced that the Premier of Western Australia and Minister for State Development, Jobs and Trade, Mark McGowan, has advised that the company’s project to build a rare earths processing plant in Kalgoorlie has been awarded lead agency status.

As quoted in the press release:

As lead agency, the department will provide Lynas with project advice as well as assistance with managing and coordinating approvals within the project’s timeframes.

The Kalgoorlie plant is expected to be operational in early 2023. It will undertake first stage processing, i.e. cracking & leaching, of rare earth concentrate from Lynas’ Mt Weld mine, which is also located in Western Australia’s Goldfields region. The plant is expected to create up to 500 jobs during peak construction and increase Lynas’ workforce in the Goldfields to over 200 people. Lynas intends to staff the plant
with a local, residential workforce and will continue the company’s long standing association with Curtin University and the WA School of Mines in Kalgoorlie.

On December 9 2019, Lynas announced the company had signed an option to sublease an industrial zoned property from the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder and will explore opportunities for additional processing in Kalgoorlie. The value-added processing to be undertaken in Kalgoorlie is aligned with the Australian government’s critical minerals strategy and the objective of the Western Australian Government to increase downstream processing and the development of intellectual property in the State.

Amanda Lacaze, CEO and managing director, commented:

We are delighted that our new plant in Kalgoorlie has been awarded lead agency status by the Western Australian government. This is recognition of the strategic importance of the new plant to the State’s critical minerals industry, and to economic growth and job creation in regional Western Australia.

We thank the Premier of Western Australia, the Hon. Mark McGowan, and the Minister for Mining and Petroleum, the Hon. Bill Johnston, for their continued support of this project.

Click here to read the whole Lynas Corporation (ASX:LYC,OTC Pink:LYSDY) press release.