MELBOURNE (Feb 27): Lynas Corp., the largest rare earths producer outside of China, won a new three-year license to continue operations in Malaysia subject to a range of conditions, which will require the construction of new plants to handle waste and raw materials.

The decision ends uncertainty that’s clouded the future of the company’s refinery near Kuantan since late 2018, when Malaysia’s government ordered a new review of the operations as critics raised concerns over its public health and environmental impact.

Malaysia has set a July 2023 deadline for Lynas to stop importing raw materials that contain naturally occurring radioactive material, the producer said Thursday in a statement. Lynas currently mines rare earths-bearing ores in Australia before sending the material to its Malaysia plant. Its shares rose as much as 11% in Sydney trading.

“This resolves a key uncertainty that’s been lingering since the Malaysian election result of May 2018,” Dylan Kelly, a Sydney-based analyst with Ord Minnett Ltd. said in a note. Lynas should erase recent losses because the decision means “operations are unaffected by Malaysian politics for the foreseeable future,” he said.

To address conditions attached to the license renewal, Lynas plans to build a new facility in Western Australia, which will partially process its raw material before it leaves the country. Lynas must also begin development of a new permanent disposal facility in Malaysia for some wastes and cooperate with the Malaysian Atomic Energy Licensing Board.

Concern over the supplier’s ability to continue operations in Malaysia has exacerbated worries about China’s dominance in the market after rare earths were last year flagged as a potential weapon in the trade war. President Donald Trump in 2019 ordered the Defense Department to lift output of a slew of rare-earth magnets used in military hardware and other products.