Lynas NEXT curtailment

"The Company achieved a solid result for the half year ended December 31, 2018, despite financial performance being affected by difficult regulatory conditions and subdued market conditions compared to the prior corresponding period.

"The Company was in production for only five months of the half year due to equipment shutdowns in November 2018 associated with Lynas NEXT and a temporary production halt in December 2018, once the plant reached the annual approved limit for processing of lanthanide concentrate. "

"Revenue was $179.8m in the half year to December 31, 2018, down 11% on the half year to December 31, 2017.Despite the shutdown of production for one month during the period, sales volumes grew by 5% in the half year to December 31, 2018 compared to the prior corresponding period. "

(1) Current licensing cannot support 600tpm NdPr production.  Lynas had to halt production in December 2018 because they had reached the fixed number of tons of concentrate they are licensed to process through the LAMP in any given year.  

We discussed this possibility last year before they implemented NEXT at LAMP.   LYNAS never discussed the permits and licensing amendments needed, save for uninformative boilerplate blurbs.  But we saw it coming.  There were deniers, of course, as we've come to expect.  This year they could hit the limit much earlier, should they be allowed to operate after September.  Current licensing is inadequate.  NEXT investment is being kept down.  New license needed to allow Lynas to process more concentrate and produce more waste.  Investors need clarity.

(2) Good to see sales growth covering some of the losses to shutdowns.