Oct. 29 at 7:12 PM
$TMQ $TMC $NP $AREC $USAR "We no longer want to be a country that only digs and ships out cheap raw materials like in the past," Tengku Zafrul said, reiterating that Malaysia will instead encourage foreign investment and technology sharing for the mining and processing of raw rare earths.
"Our policy is not to prevent trade forever," he said. "Our policy is to prevent the export of cheap unprocessed raw materials so that value is added to Malaysia."
Malaysia has some 16.1 million metric tons of rare earth deposits, according to government estimates, but lacks the technology to mine and process them. Rare earth materials are essential for high-tech manufacturing, including electric vehicles, semiconductors and missiles.
Reuters reported earlier this month that Malaysia was in talks with China on rare earths processing, saying Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional would partner with a Chinese firm to build a refinery in Malaysia.
