Australia's Wesfarmers says not to pursue rare-earths miner Lynas

Aug 22 (Reuters) - Australian retails-to-chemicals conglomerate Wesfarmers Ltd said on Thursday it would not pursue its proposal to buy rare-earths miner Lynas Corp .

Noting Lynas' receipt of a renewed operating licence for its Malaysian processing plant earlier in the day, Wesfarmers said it "has been unable to progress a proposal".

In April, Wesfarmers said it was still interested in acquiring the only major producer of rare earth elements outside China and could table a less conditional bid after its earlier offer was rebuffed by Lynas' board. (Reporting by Aby Jose Koilparambil in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)