Planned upgrade affects Lynas numbers

Lynas Rare Earths has announced a fall in its quarterly production and revenue streams, citing a temporary shutdown at its Malaysian processing plant. 

On Monday, the Amanda Lacaze-backed miner told the market its quarterly sales revenue for the second quarter of the 2024 financial year were $112.5 million, down $15.6 million from the first quarter of FY24. 

Sales receipts also fell by $21.4 million – from $128.5 million to $107.1 million - along with the company's rare earth oxide production, with was down 1,503 tonnes, from 3,069t to 1,566t.

Lynas said these figures reflected not only a lower quarterly production, but also product sales mix and an extended period of low rare earths pricing. 

As of 12.22pm AEST, Lynas shares had dipped 2 per cent following the news, trading at $5.83 per share. 

The company's Malaysian facility was temporarily shut down due to a planned major upgrade, in a bid to increase its annual neodymium and praseodymium production at the facility by 10,500t a year. 

Additionally, Lynas confirmed no mining activies were conducted at its Mt Weld mine, located near Laverton in the Goldfields, due to sufficient ore stockpile levels. 

The company said Mt Weld was moving back to full production at the end of the quarter and tipped it would provide support to its Malaysian and Kalgoorlie-based processing operations. 

In November last year, Lynas confirmed it had received environmental approval from the Environmental Protectional Agency to expand its Mt Weld facility.