{"id":1110155,"date":"2019-04-10T16:20:36","date_gmt":"2019-04-10T16:20:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=981273"},"modified":"2019-04-10T16:20:36","modified_gmt":"2019-04-10T16:20:36","slug":"lynas-board-turns-down-1-1b-wesfarmers-bid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1110155","title":{"rendered":"Lynas board turns down $1.1B Wesfarmers bid"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australian rare earths miner Lynas Corp (ASX: LYC) said Wednesday<\/a> its board had rejected a A$1.5bn (about $1.1B) takeover proposa<\/a>l from Australian retail and industrial conglomerate Wesfarmers.<\/p>\n

Lynas, one of the world\u2019s main suppliers of rare earths outside China, said the offer undervalued the company\u2019s \u201cintellectual property.\u201d The miner also said it could deliver better shareholder value in its current form than under Wesfarmers control.<\/p>\n

Analysts had warned that Wesfarmers\u2019\u00a0unsolicited bid\u00a0was highly opportunistic, as it comes at a time when Lynas’ stock price is under pressure, due to the ongoing issues in Malaysia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Lynas, which has a mine in Western Australia and an $800 million processing plant in Malaysia, is facing problems getting licence renewals for the plant due to concerns over waste storage.<\/p>\n

Lynas’ board said the company can deliver better shareholder value in its current form than under Wesfarmers control.<\/q><\/p>\n

Earlier this week, it said it was considering initial ore processing\u00a0in Western Australia<\/a>, where its Mount Weld mine is located. It noted it had long been considering building new processing facilities as part of expansion plans and to reduce risks from further regulatory changes in Malaysia.<\/p>\n

Malaysian environmental groups and Lynas Corp workers held rival demonstrations in Kuala Lumpur<\/a> on Wednesday. While activists reiterated worries around the radioactive waste produced, Lynas workers asked authorities to base any decisions on \u201cscientific fact and evidence,\u201d highlighting the plant\u2019s importance for employment in the region.<\/p>\n

This is not the first time the miner\u2019s six-year-old facility \u2014 known as the Lynas Advance Material Plant (LAMP) \u2014 is the cause of tension between Kuala Lumpur and the Sydney-based miner.<\/p>\n

LAMP was the centre of relentless attacks from environmental groups and local residents while under construction in 2012. They feared about the\u00a0impact the low-level radioactive waste the refinery generates could have\u00a0on the health of those living nearby, and to the environment.<\/p>\n

Scrutiny escalated last year, with Kuala Lumpur setting a committee to review Lynas\u2019 operations. The company\u2019s chief executive and managing director, Amanda Lacaze\u00a0raised concerns about the impartiality<\/a>\u00a0of a couple of committee members, as both are known for being long time opponents of having the refinery located in Malaysia.<\/p>\n

In December, the country\u00a0ordered Lynas to remove 450,000\u00a0tonnes of radioactive waste<\/a>\u00a0stockpiled at its processing plant by Sept. 2., when the company\u2019s licence is up for renewal.<\/p>\n

Lynas, however, revealed\u00a0earlier this year that\u00a0it would not be able to comply<\/a>\u00a0with such demand by the given deadline.<\/p>\n

China currently dominates the rare earth market, producing nearly 90% of the world’s total , while Lynas controls around 10%.<\/p>\n

The post Lynas board turns down $1.1B Wesfarmers bid<\/a> appeared first on MINING.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The rare earths miner said its board had concluded it would not engage with retail and industrial conglomerate Wesfarmers, stating its unsolicited takeover offer undervalues Lynas’ intellectual property.<\/p>\n

The post Lynas board turns down $1.1B Wesfarmers bid<\/a> appeared first on MINING.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[647,1757,1758,1545,404,369,426],"tags":[15],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1110155"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1110155"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1110155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1110181,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1110155\/revisions\/1110181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1110155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1110155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1110155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}