IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jrpoli/v83y2023ics0301420723004646.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Balancing economic growth and environmental protection: A sustainable approach to Malaysia's rare-earth industry

Author

Listed:
  • Aziman, Eli Syafiqah
  • Ismail, Aznan Fazli
  • Rahmat, Muhammad Abdullah

Abstract

The rapid advancement of technology has highlighted the importance of rare earth elements (REE) for achieving sustainability. However, despite their potential, there are several challenges such as high demand, price fluctuations, supply risks, and unstable geopolitical landscapes that hinder their recovery efforts. Malaysia has been involved in the REE industry for decades, mainly by processing tin mining by-products into rare earth minerals (monazite). In 2012, Lynas, an Australian company, established a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility called Lynas Malaysia in the Gebeng Industrial Estate near the Port of Kuantan in Malaysia, where they separate and process Rare Earth materials from imported monazite (lanthanide concentrate) to produce Rare Earths Oxide (REO). However, the locals have raised concerns about the production of radioactive by-products, leading to an activist movement against Lynas. To counter this, Malaysia aims to establish a comprehensive REE business strategy that utilizes local rare earth minerals. Although the extraction of REE from local ion adsorption clays (IC) has been advantageous with minimal issues relating to radioactive waste production, this review explores alternative local secondary sources that could be a sustainable REE source for Malaysia. The review also addresses the causes of the public protests and political interferences that jeopardize the industry's long-term sustainability. A progressive framework is proposed to improve current mineral processing practices and provide Malaysia with a viable rare-earth industry from upstream to downstream.

Suggested Citation

  • Aziman, Eli Syafiqah & Ismail, Aznan Fazli & Rahmat, Muhammad Abdullah, 2023. "Balancing economic growth and environmental protection: A sustainable approach to Malaysia's rare-earth industry," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jrpoli:v:83:y:2023:i:c:s0301420723004646
    DOI: 10.1016/j.resourpol.2023.103753
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301420723004646
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.resourpol.2023.103753?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wang, Huaidong & Zhang, Shuhao & Li, Bin & Pan, De’an & Wu, Yufeng & Zuo, Tieyong, 2017. "Recovery of waste printed circuit boards through pyrometallurgical processing: A review," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 209-218.
    2. Rahmat, Muhammad Abdullah & Ismail, Aznan Fazli & Aziman, Eli Syafiqah & Rodzi, Nursyamimi Diyana & Mohamed, Faizal & Abdul Rahman, Irman, 2022. "The impact of unregulated industrial tin-tailing processing in Malaysia: Past, present and way forward," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    3. Wübbeke, Jost, 2013. "Rare earth elements in China: Policies and narratives of reinventing an industry," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 384-394.
    4. Yuzhou Shen & Ruthann Moomy & Roderick G. Eggert, 2020. "China’s public policies toward rare earths, 1975–2018," Mineral Economics, Springer;Raw Materials Group (RMG);Luleå University of Technology, vol. 33(1), pages 127-151, July.
    5. Kuan, Seng How & Ghorbani, Yousef & Chieng, Sylvia, 2020. "Narrowing the gap between local standards and global best practices in bauxite mining: A case study in Malaysia," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    6. Jason C. K. Lee & Zongguo Wen, 2018. "Pathways for greening the supply of rare earth elements in China," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 1(10), pages 598-605, October.
    7. Elshkaki, Ayman & Graedel, T.E., 2014. "Dysprosium, the balance problem, and wind power technology," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 548-559.
    8. Amanda Qinisile Vilakazi & Sehliselo Ndlovu & Liberty Chipise & Alan Shemi, 2022. "The Recycling of Coal Fly Ash: A Review on Sustainable Developments and Economic Considerations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-32, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Li, Zheng-Zheng & Meng, Qin & Zhang, Linling & Lobont, Oana-Ramona & Shen, Yijuan, 2023. "How do rare earth prices respond to economic and geopolitical factors?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PA).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Xiao, Shijiang & Geng, Yong & Rui, Xue & Gao, Ziyan & Su, Chang & Yao, Tianli & Zhong, Chen, 2024. "Anthropogenic cycles of praseodymium in China: 2000–2020," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    2. Seiler, Volker, 2024. "The relationship between Chinese and FOB prices of rare earth elements – Evidence in the time and frequency domain," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 160-179.
    3. Ren, Kaipeng & Tang, Xu & Wang, Peng & Willerström, Jakob & Höök, Mikael, 2021. "Bridging energy and metal sustainability: Insights from China’s wind power development up to 2050," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    4. Hu, Xueyue & Wang, Chunying & Elshkaki, Ayman, 2024. "Material-energy Nexus: A systematic literature review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    5. Zdzisław Adamczyk & Joanna Komorek & Magdalena Kokowska-Pawłowska & Jacek Nowak, 2023. "Distribution of Rare-Earth Elements in Ashes Produced in the Coal Combustion Process from Power Boilers," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(6), pages 1-15, March.
    6. Cherepovitsyn, Alexey & Solovyova, Victoria & Dmitrieva, Diana, 2023. "New challenges for the sustainable development of the rare-earth metals sector in Russia: Transforming industrial policies," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    7. Song, Huiling & Wang, Chang & Lei, Xiaojie & Zhang, Hongwei, 2022. "Dynamic dependence between main-byproduct metals and the role of clean energy market," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    8. Packey, Daniel J. & Kingsnorth, Dudley, 2016. "The impact of unregulated ionic clay rare earth mining in China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 112-116.
    9. Zhe Chen & Zhongzhong Hu & Kai Li, 2021. "The spillover effect of trade policy along the value Chain: Evidence from China's rare earth‐related sectors," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(12), pages 3550-3582, December.
    10. Abbas, Khizar & Han, Mengyao & Xu, Deyi & Butt, Khalid Manzoor & Baz, Khan & Cheng, Jinhua & Zhu, Yongguang & Hussain, Sanwal, 2024. "Exploring synergistic and individual causal effects of rare earth elements and renewable energy on multidimensional economic complexity for sustainable economic development," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 364(C).
    11. Jannesar Niri, Anahita & Poelzer, Gregory A. & Zhang, Steven E. & Rosenkranz, Jan & Pettersson, Maria & Ghorbani, Yousef, 2024. "Sustainability challenges throughout the electric vehicle battery value chain," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    12. Ge, Zewen & Geng, Yong & Wei, Wendong & Zhong, Chen, 2022. "Assessing samarium resource efficiency in China: A dynamic material flow analysis," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    13. Isaac Akinwumi & Manuela Onyeiwu & Promise Epelle & Victor Ajayi, 2023. "Soil Improvement Using Blends of Coal Ash and Plantain Peel Ash as Road Pavement Layer Materials," Resources, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-16, March.
    14. Tomer Fishman & Rupert J. Myers & Orlando Rios & T.E. Graedel, 2018. "Implications of Emerging Vehicle Technologies on Rare Earth Supply and Demand in the United States," Resources, MDPI, vol. 7(1), pages 1-15, January.
    15. Pothen, Frank, 2013. "The metal resources (METRO) model: A dynamic partial equilibrium model for metal markets applied to rare earth elements," ZEW Discussion Papers 13-112, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    16. Alexandre Tisserant & Stefan Pauliuk, 2016. "Matching global cobalt demand under different scenarios for co-production and mining attractiveness," Journal of Economic Structures, Springer;Pan-Pacific Association of Input-Output Studies (PAPAIOS), vol. 5(1), pages 1-19, December.
    17. Denah Suswati & Nugra Irianta Denashurya, 2023. "Sustainable Rehabilitation of Post-Bauxite Mining Land for Albizia falcata Cultivation Using Specific Location Amelioration Technology," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-16, July.
    18. Elshkaki, Ayman & Graedel, T.E., 2015. "Solar cell metals and their hosts: A tale of oversupply and undersupply," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 167-177.
    19. Shuai, Jing & Peng, Xinjie & Zhao, Yujia & Wang, Yilan & Xu, Wei & Cheng, Jinhua & Lu, Yang & Wang, Jingjin, 2022. "A dynamic evaluation on the international competitiveness of China's rare earth products: An industrial chain and tech-innovation perspective," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    20. Guo, Jianxin & Zhu, Kaiwei & Cheng, Yonglong, 2024. "Deployment of clean energy technologies towards carbon neutrality under resource constraints," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 295(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jrpoli:v:83:y:2023:i:c:s0301420723004646. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/30467 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.