Australia freezes Chinese investor rights over key mining project
Finance Minister Jim Chalmers has frozen the shareholder rights of a group of China-linked investors he believes are trying to illegally seize control of an underdeveloped but strategically important Australian rare earth mining project.
The Albanian government has become increasingly concerned about China’s efforts to establish shareholdings in companies that sit on critical mining lands in Australia, including rare earth metals needed to make a range of products such as electric motors, wind turbines, missiles and other military hardware.
On Tuesday, Western Australian rare earth miner Northern Minerals said Chalmers had issued orders preventing three investors in its stock from voting or exercising other rights at future meetings, including the company’s postponed annual general meeting.
Northern Minerals said the government had reason to believe that three investors (Hong Kong Ying Tank Limited, Real International Resources Limited and Qogir Trading & Service Co. Limited) were among six shareholders who were ordered to divest their shares in Northern Minerals in May but did not cooperate.
A spokesman for Chalmers said the government expected companies investing in Australia to comply with Australian laws.
“We will do whatever is necessary to protect national interests and the integrity of our foreign investment framework,” the spokesman said.
Northern Minerals’ Browns Range project in WA’s East Kimberley region sits on Australia’s best-known orebodies of dysprosium and terbium, two heavy rare earth elements needed in powerful heat-resistant magnets.
The project, which is in its early stages, is seen as strategically important as it could be the first significant source of dysprosium outside China and could supply heavy rare earth elements to Australia’s first fully integrated rare earth refinery being built by Iluka Resources at Eneabba in Western Australia.
China’s mines and refineries currently produce most of the world’s rare earth metals, making them key suppliers to foreign manufacturers of a wide range of products such as computers, smartphones, camera lenses, LED lights, electric vehicles, fighter jets and precision-guided weapons. China accounts for approximately 70 percent of rare earth mining and 90 percent of the separation and processing market.
But Australia and its allies, including the United States, are racing to reduce their dependence on China, concerned about Beijing’s willingness to use its dominant market position as leverage in geopolitical and economic disputes.
Northern Minerals executive chairman Adam Handley welcomed Chalmers’ orders on Tuesday.
“A review of Northern Minerals’ share registry after July 2, 2026 showed that the majority of the shares subject to the May sale orders remained registered in the names of the individuals subject to those orders and that the Company referred these matters to the Foreign Investment Review Board,” Handley said.
Shares in the ASX-listed rare earth miner rose more than 7 per cent following the intervention.
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Nick Toscano is an economic correspondent for The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald.Connect with: X or email.
