Lynas (M) Sdn Bhd (Lynas) needs to suspend the production of the water leach purification (WLP) residue at its rare earth refinery in Kuantan if it still fails to dispose the existing waste by September.

Kuantan MP Fuziah Salleh said any new waste would complicate the efforts to remove all the existing WLP waste from its plant in Gebeng.

Lynas in a statement yesterday said that it could not meet a timeline from Malaysian regulators to export a waste product before its operating licence comes up for renewal in September.

"I think that they cannot continue to produce waste (WLP)... I don’t mean that they have to close down the plant, just don’t produce new residue until the existing one is removed," she told reporters after launching the ‘My Best Buy’ programme at Serambi Teruntum in Kuantan yesterday.

- Bernama