The media release is sending on behalf of MP Kuantan cum PKR Vice President YB Fuziah Salleh for Senior Lecturer for Environmental Engineering at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia, Dr Gavin Mudd to refute Lynas’s attempt to “downplay the significance of rare earth processing and disposal issues” in Gebeng, Pahang.

Kuantan, Pahang, 14 April 2011

Thanks & Regards,

Dr. Joyce Lee

Analysis of Lynas - Mt Weld Rare Earth

Statement by: Dr Gavin Mudd – senior lecturer for Environmental Engineering at Monash University, Melbourne.

Dr Mudd said: “Claims that rare earth ore imported from Australia had a low thorium content were a way ‘to downplay the significance of such issues’. Lynas claimed that the thorium contained in its ore is 50 times lower than what was in the tin tailings used in the now closed Asian Rare Earth (ARE) plant in Bukit Merah, Ipoh.”

“The main question is the natural concentration in the area used for ore processing and waste disposal. (The average thorium content in the Mt Weld ore) is almost certainly higher than background or natural soil concentrations,” said Dr Mudd.

He was also skeptical of the low figures quoted by Lynas on the annual radiation exposure of its workers and said he had expected the figures to be much higher.

Dr Mudd reiterated the main point of concern posed by local experts that all radiation exposure was cumulative and added up over a lifetime.