Activist group protesting against a controversial rare earth plant in Malaysia by Australian miner Lynas Corp. vowed on Thursday to file legal action to halt the plant and embark on an anti-government campaign. "The government has left us with no choice but to take legal action and embark on a nationwide public campaign to vote the government out in the next general election," said Tan Bun Teet, chairman of activist group, Save Malaysia Save Lynas or SMSL.

Tan said the group, which consisted residents living near the plant and environmentalists, would hold a public event on Saturday and pledged with others to change the government. "We want a safe and clean Malaysia for all. We cannot afford to let a government which does not know its duty of care to bring hazards to our country," he added.

His statement came a day after Malaysia's Atomic Energy Licensing Board or AELB announced that it had granted Lynas a temporary operating license for its plant in Kuantan, capital of Malaysia's Pahang state.

The license was granted under the condition that Lynas submits plans for a Permanent Disposal Facility and deposits a 50 million U.S. dollar financial guarantee with the government.

The board said it would keep a close watch on the 235-million-U. S. dollar plant over the next two years before granting it a full operating license.

SMSL have been protesting for almost a year for fear over the radioactive waste the plant would generate.

SMSL charged that the government had ignored advices from health experts and insisted that the rare earth processing plant would discharge hazardous and radioactive substances that pose environmental and health risks, a claim the company had denied.

The AELB had said its decision to grant Lynas the license was made based on some 1,123 comments from the public.

Lynas' shares jumped 19 percent in the Australian stock market on Thursday.

The government granted the company a manufacturing license two years ago with hopes that the rare earth processing plant would spur economic growth and provide jobs.

Operations at the plant were slated to begin last year but were put on hold following a public outcry that prompted the government to seek help from the International Atomic Energy Agency or IAEA to review the plant.

The miner said on Tuesday that construction of the plant is 91 percent complete and that it would start production in March.

The plant, the first outside of China, would produce metals worth five billion ringgit (91.66 billion U.S. dollars) a year that are used in making green products like wind turbine, LEDs and flat screen televisions.