Lynas Rare Earths has acknowledged it could have to shut down some processing operations under conditions imposed by authorities in Malaysia as it fights a rearguard action to preserve all of its production capacity in the South-East Asian nation.

The partial closure of some downstream processing operations at Kuantan would represent a worst-case scenario for Lynas, the world’s biggest non-Chinese supplier of rare earths, as it races the clock to have a cracking and leaching plant under construction in Western Australia up and running by July 1.