关丹Lynas工厂
Rare earth elements are relatively plentiful in the earth's crust, with cerium being the 25th most abundant element at 68 parts per million. This makes it as abundant as copper. Because of their geochemical properties, rare earth elements are typically dispersed. This means they are often found in concentrated enough clusters to make them viable to mine. It was the scarcity of these minerals that led to them being called rare earths. Rare earths are categorised into light elements (lanthanum to samarium) and heavy elements (europium to lutetium). The latter are less common and consequently more expensive.
Chemically, rare earths are strong reducing agents. Their compounds are generally ionic and they display high melting and boiling points. Rare earths are relatively soft when in their metallic state while those with a higher atomic number tend to be harder. Rare earths react with other metallic and non-metallic elements to form compounds each of which has specific chemical behaviours. This makes them indispensable and non-replaceable in many electronic, optical, magnetic, and catalytic applications. Rare earth compounds are commonly fluorescent under ultraviolet light, which can assist in their identification. Rare earths also react with water or diluted acid to produce hydrogen gas.
红泥山事件
大约在上个世纪八十年代，日本三菱集团联合马来西亚企业马矿业成立亚洲稀土有限公司，在霹雳州红坭山新村一旁设立化学提炼厂，以从锡矿废料渣中提取钇。钇是一种稀土原料，用途广泛，为科技产品、金属和化学工业的必要原料。钇本身无辐射，但在提炼过程中，会散发出辐射性的尘埃和气体（如钍、铀、铅等），并遗下辐射性废料。这些废料容易通过食物、水和空气被人体吸收，这不但影响人类的免疫系统，更会致癌。统计显示，在该期间红泥山与毗邻地区离奇死亡者有三名、因辐射而患上血癌的儿童有八名（其中六名儿童死亡），先天脑残者五名，最终活下来的只有两名，而孕妇流产、婴儿夭折率也是全马的三倍。为了捍卫家园，红坭山新村连同毗邻数个受影响社区，大约一万五千名村民多次举行和平集会，要求亚稀厂停止营运，并将其控上法庭。这场官司为时十年，是当年最轰动、费时最久的民事官司，并获得海外的媒体和环保专家的支援。红坭山村民成功在一九八五年取得禁令，阻止亚稀厂继续营运；而怡保高庭则在一九九二年下令关闭亚稀厂，但此项判决在一九九三年又被吉隆坡最高法院推翻。
一年之后，亚稀厂碍于民间压力自动关门大吉。如今亚稀厂虽已关闭，但却必须花费十三年的时间和无法估计的金钱拆厂和妥善处理辐射性废料的工作，至于埋藏辐射废料的永久埋毒槽（于升旗山腰，与甲板新村相隔三公里）的管理权则会在二零一六年正式交还于霹雳州政府。二零一二年，红泥山稀土抗毒委员会声援远在关丹的居民，抗议莱纳士来马设厂。