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This measure is in response to tighter movement controls in Malaysia, imposed last week, that ban movement and mass assembly.

At the time of writing, there have been 1,518 cases of COVID-19 recorded in Malaysia, and 14 deaths.

Lynas said it had taken the steps to initiate a safe temporary shutdown of its plant into care and maintenance mode. It has retained some work-in-progress inventory and believes it will be able to ramp up quickly once it can restart.

The Mount Weld mine in Western Australia was expected to continue to operate.

"We have taken actions to significantly reduce cash outgoings during the temporary shutdown," Lynas stated. 

The rare earth producer said its plant had delivered strong production during the March quarter to date, and it was in a strong position to avoid a significant majority of costs under the shutdown scenario.