French firm Carester to build rare earths separation plant in Perak

Carester CEO Frederic Carencotte described the company’s 10-year deal with Malaco Mining Sdn Bhd as a win-win partnership. (AFP pic)

PETALING JAYA: French company Carester plans to build a rare earth separation plant in Perak as part of its 10-year joint venture with local miner Malaco Mining Sdn Bhd.

Its CEO, Frederic Carencotte, said the cooperation, first announced in January, will include the transfer of technology in rare earth processing from Carester to Malaco, Bernama reported.

It will also be guided by Malaysia’s rare earth deposits and policy direction.

“Malaysia has some rare earth deposits. This is a win-win partnership. We (Carester) bring some technology (while there is a presence of rare earths in the country),” he was quoted as saying at a press conference here today.

Carencotte said Carester’s operations in Malaysia would depend on deposit locations identified by Malaco, with projects potentially spread across different sites.

Malaysia is estimated to have about 274,144 metric tonnes of rare earth deposits across nine states, especially in Perak, Kedah and Terengganu.

It is also home to Australian company Lynas Rare Earths’ facility, the only major large-scale rare earth processing plant outside China.

However, a ban on the export of raw rare earths from 2025 to 2027 has been imposed to encourage local processing and development of higher-value downstream industries.