MELBOURNE, Aug 29 (Reuters) – Australia’s Lynas Rare Earths Ltd (LYC.AX) hiked construction cost estimates for its Kalgoorlie rare earths facility by more than a quarter and said it would boost the plant’s production capacity to tap growing demand.
Lynas has sped up construction at Kalgoorlie in Western Australia amid worries that a facility in Malaysia may have to be partly wound down after regulators there raised concerns about radiation levels from the process of cracking and leaching.
The biggest producer of rare earths outside of China now expects to incur A$730 million ($470 million) in costs to complete the construction of Kalgoorlie, compared to an earlier estimate of A$575 million. It also estimated an additional A$50 million in operating costs.
“The key for why we are really now looking at a further uplift in cost to complete is really our compressed timeline,” CEO Amanda Lacaze told an earnings call on Tuesday.
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