{"id":678878,"date":"2026-05-18T15:49:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T15:49:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/678878\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T15:49:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T15:49:11","slug":"australia-orders-six-northern-minerals-investors-to-divest-stakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/678878\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia orders six Northern Minerals investors to divest stakes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>                                    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Mining-4-18May26-shutterstock_2276647751-430x241.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                                    Northern Minerals\u2019 Browns Range HRE project features the Wolverine deposit, Australia\u2019s highest-grade source of dysprosium and terbium. Credit: Bjoern Wylezich\/Shutterstock.com. <\/p>\n<p class=\"drop-cap\">Australia has mandated six China-linked shareholders to divest their interests in Northern Minerals, as announced by Treasurer Jim Chalmers.<\/p>\n<p>This decision follows concerns over attempts by Chinese parties to gain control of the company, which is advancing the Browns Range heavy rare earths (HRE) project in Western Australia, reported <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/business\/australia-treasurer-orders-six-shareholders-divest-northern-minerals-2026-05-17\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Reuters<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mining-technology.com\/wp-content\/themes\/goodlife-wp-B2B\/assets\/img\/globaldata_marketing_solutions_logo.svg\" alt=\"\"\/> Discover B2B Marketing That Performs <\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tCombine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.globaldatamarketingsolutions.com\/\" class=\"gms-find-out-more\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFind out more <\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Browns Range HRE project is situated 160km south-east of Halls Creek, on the northern edge of the Tanami Desert in the East Kimberley region.<\/p>\n<p>It features the Wolverine deposit, recognised as Australia\u2019s highest-grade source of dysprosium and terbium.<\/p>\n<p>The project is significant as Western nations strive to reduce dependency on China in the rare earths sector, which is crucial for industries such as semiconductors and defence.<\/p>\n<p>The investors, Chuanyou Cong, Hong Kong Ying Tak, Qogir Trading &amp; Service, Real International Resources, Vastness Investment Group and Zhongxiong Lin, currently hold approximately 17% of the company, reported <a href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/2026-05-18\/northern-minerals-chinese-linked-investors-jim-chalmers\/106692558\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">ABC<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>They are required to divest their shares within a two-week time frame.<\/p>\n<p>Chalmers said: \u201cWe operate a robust and non-discriminatory foreign investment framework and will take further action if required to protect our national interest in relation to this matter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Northern Minerals acknowledged the Treasurer\u2019s directive and is assessing its future actions.<\/p>\n<p>The company\u2019s share value declined by more than 8% to A$0.022 ($0.015), less than half the price from a previous equity placement in October.<\/p>\n<p>Australia previously intervened in Northern Minerals\u2019 shareholder structure in 2024, requiring Chinese parties to sell their stakes on national interest grounds, which some transferred to Ying Tak.<\/p>\n<p>Efforts by the news agency to obtain comments from Ying Tak were unsuccessful, as no contact information is available.<\/p>\n<p>During a news briefing, China\u2019s Foreign Ministry responded by urging Australia to \u201cearnestly respect\u201d Chinese investors\u2019 rights and called for a fair business climate for foreign investments.<\/p>\n<p>                    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mining-technology.com\/wp-content\/themes\/goodlife-wp-B2B\/assets\/images\/newsletter-new.svg\" alt=\"Email newsletter icon\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\n                    Sign up for our daily news round-up!<br \/>\n                    Give your business an edge with our leading industry insights.\n                <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Northern Minerals\u2019 Browns Range HRE project features the Wolverine deposit, Australia\u2019s highest-grade source of dysprosium and terbium. Credit:&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":678879,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-678878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=678878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678878\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/678879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=678878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=678878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=678878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}