KUANTAN, March 26 – The Pahang government strongly denies claims that there was illegal production of rare earth oxides in the forest reserve in Lipis district, despite attempts to mine the material.
Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail said that the statement issued by Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad when answering a question from Ipoh Timur member of Parliament, Lee Chuan How, in Parliament yesterday, was inaccurate, as there was no rare earth production activity in the Lipis district.
He said as a result of information and intelligence carried out by the Pahang Enforcement Unit (UPNP) elite team on March 20 last year, they had detected and found a location and there was an attempt to turn it into a rare earth mine area, based on the equipment found.
“Following this discovery, the state Minerals and Geoscience Department conducted a site inspection at the location on March 23 last year, and the investigation found that the tools and laboratory items used showed that the area was for rare earth mining.
“However, no production activity has been detected, and all the equipment was seized by the authorities,” he said in a statement today.
From then on, UPNP, together with the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) and West Pahang Zone Forestry Enforcement, conducted regular monitoring in the western part of Pahang, from May 3 last year to Feb 15 this year, and found that there was no rare earth mining activity taking place.
“I hope this fact can be corrected because the statement made yesterday has affected the good name of the state of Pahang, especially since the Pahang government, for the past five years, has been so strict in implementing enforcement to curb illegal land encroachment activities, including rampant mining activities,” he said.
According to Wan Rosdy, a total of 137 cases of state government land encroachment have been successfully resolved, with 129 cases being compounded, while eight cases have been prosecuted in court and sentenced, since the establishment of UPNP on Oct 9, 2019.
He said that the state government will also continue enforcement activities from time to time, to ensure that no more illegal land exploration activities occur in the state in the future.
