According to Singapore's "The Straits Times" (The Straits Times) reported on the 18th local time, Malaysia is applying to China to import rare earth processing technology, in order to develop the country's mineral deposits worth nearly 1 trillion ringgit (about 1.5235 trillion yuan, 1 ringgit about 1.5 yuan). The report mentioned that although the Chinese government has since December last year, rare earth extraction separation technology has been banned from export of "rare earth extraction, processing and utilization technology," but the article believes that Malaysia's move out of "far-reaching geostrategic considerations."
The Straits Times said that Malaysia has all 17 rare earth elements in the ground, and China is the only producer with all rare earth production capacity, and the value generated by Malaysia's cooperation with China will be much greater than that of other countries. However, the report also mentioned that while the Chinese side is likely to have the most effective plan to build a factory in Malaysia, it remains to be seen whether it will make an exception for Malaysia.
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Workers at Australian rare earth giant Lynas walk past rare earth concentrate waiting to be shipped to Malaysia in 2019
On the 18th, The Straits Times said it had learned that the Malaysian Cabinet had instructed Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Zheng Likang to visit China at the end of April to seek a company to invest in a rare earth refinery in Malaysia. Mr Cheng said Malaysia would "explore opportunities to play a bigger role in the rare earth supply chain".
In June last year, Ninazmi, then Malaysia's minister of Natural Resources, environment and Climate change, said the country had more than 16 million tons of non-radioactive rare earth elements, which the government valued at about 800 billion ringgit (about 1.219 trillion yuan). Some experts believe that the value of these minerals will soon exceed 1 trillion ringgit as demand increases.
In order to extract more economic value from these minerals, the Malaysian government suspended the export of unprocessed rare earths from January 1 this year. Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said the ban was aimed at "ensuring maximum returns for the country", aiming to achieve the goal of adding 9.5 billion ringgit (+ 0.5%) to gross domestic product and creating 7,000 jobs by 2025 by building downstream capacity in the rare earth industry.
It is worth mentioning that when Anwar announced the "rare earth export ban" in September last year, Reuters and other Western media took the opportunity to hype that Malaysia's announcement was at a time when other countries were trying to keep their key supply chains "away from China." However, Abd Rashid Ghaffar, director of the Malaysian Geological Research Institute, quickly publicly refuted the so-called "China threat theory."
"Currently, China is the world's leading producer of rare earths. In terms of knowledge and technology, from exploration, mining, processing to production, they are number one in the world." "They can also be good partners for Malaysia if there is a win-win deal," Mr. Ghaffar said.
In addition to the export ban, Anwar's government also promised at the time to draw up a blueprint for the country's rare earth industry, devising plans for onshore processing and other related services. It has been reported earlier that Malaysia plans to develop a detailed map of the country's rare earth element resources and a comprehensive plan for an integrated industrial production model from mining, processing and export. The Straits Times said that the plan has not yet been introduced, but the value generated by such a framework would be far greater than simply exporting raw minerals.
Although many countries have rare earth processing technology, China is the only producer with mature production capacity for all 17 rare earths, and has also begun refining Malaysian deposits. Malaysia has all 17 rare earth elements in the ground, so working with any country other than China would not enable all rare earth elements to be refined, and the value of the output would be lower.
The article cited the operations of Lynas, an Australian rare earth giant, in Malaysia. The company has built a more than A $1 billion rare earth refinery in Kuantan, Malaysia, one of the world's largest rare earth processing plants, which has long been criticized by local residents for pollution. The plant still needs to build a different capacity to process Malaysian ore, which is estimated to take two years to complete.
The Straits Times believes that given China's experience in processing ore, China is likely to have the most effective solution to set up a plant in Malaysia, but whether the Chinese government will make an exception for Malaysia remains to be seen.
On December 21 last year, the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Science and Technology of China issued an announcement on the publication of the List of Technologies Prohibited from Export and Restricted from Export of China. In the part prohibited from export, "rare earth extraction, processing and utilization technology" is included, specifically involving rare earth extraction and separation technology; Production technology of rare earth metals and alloy materials; Preparation technology of samarium cobalt, Ndfeb, cerium magnets and rare earth calcium oxyborate.
The directory change immediately attracted a lot of attention. On December 22, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin responded at a regular press conference that the revision of the list of technologies prohibited and restricted for export is China's specific measures and routine adjustments to adapt to changes in technological development and improve management of technology trade. China always adheres to the principle of promoting reform and development through opening-up. To create positive conditions for promoting international economic and trade cooperation.
