{"id":799377,"date":"2026-07-14T08:58:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T08:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/799377\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T08:58:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T08:58:13","slug":"rare-earths-australia-freezes-chinese-investor-rights-over-key-mining-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/799377\/","title":{"rendered":"Rare earths: Australia freezes Chinese investor rights over key mining project"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Treasurer Jim Chalmers has frozen the shareholder rights of a group Chinese-linked investors he believes are seeking to illegally gain control over an undeveloped but strategically important Australian rare earth mining project.<\/p>\n

The Albanese government has become increasingly worried by Chinese efforts to build up shareholdings in companies sitting on Australian critical mineral tenements, including the rare earth metals needed to make an array of products such as electric motors, wind turbines and missiles and other military hardware.<\/p>\n

\"NorthernNorthern Minerals is developing its Browns Range rare earths prospect in WA.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, West Australian rare earth miner Northern Minerals said Chalmers had issued orders preventing three investors on its share register from voting or exercising any other rights at future meetings, including the company\u2019s postponed annual general meeting.<\/p>\n

Northern Minerals said the government had reason to believe that the three investors \u2013 Hong Kong Ying Tank Limited, Real International Resources Limited, and Qogir Trading & Service Co. Limited \u2013 were among six shareholders that had been ordered to divest their stakes in Northern Minerals in May, but had not co-operated.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Chalmers said the government expected companies investing in Australia to comply with Australian laws.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll do what\u2019s necessary to protect the national interest and the integrity of our foreign investment framework,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

\"TreasurerTreasurer Jim Chalmers and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.Alex Ellinghausen<\/p>\n

Northern Minerals\u2019 Browns Range project in WA\u2019s East Kimberley region sits on Australia\u2019s best-known orebodies of dysprosium and terbium, two heavy rare earth elements needed in powerful heat-resistant magnets.<\/p>\n

The project, which is in its early stages, is seen as strategically important because it could become the first significant non-Chinese source of dysprosium, and it would be able to supply heavy rare earths to Australia\u2019s first fully integrated rare earths refinery being built by Iluka Resources at Eneabba in WA.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Northern<\/a><\/p>\n

China\u2019s mines and refineries currently produce most of the world\u2019s rare earth metals<\/a>, making them essential suppliers to foreign manufacturers of products as diverse as computers, smartphones, camera lenses, LED lights, electric vehicles, fighter jets and precision-guided weapons. China accounts for about 70 per cent of rare earth mining, and 90 per cent of the market for separation and processing.<\/p>\n

But Australia and its allies, including the US, are racing to lessen their dependence on China, worried about Beijing\u2019s willingness to use its market-dominant position as leverage in geopolitical and economic disputes.<\/p>\n

Northern Minerals executive chairman Adam Handley welcomed Chalmers\u2019 orders on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cA review of Northern Minerals\u2019 share register following 2 July 2026 showed that a majority of the shares the subject of the May disposal orders remained registered in the names of the persons the subject of those orders, and the Company referred those matters to the Foreign Investment Review Board,\u201d Handley said.<\/p>\n

Shares in the ASX-listed rare earth miner rose more than 7 per cent following the intervention.<\/p>\n

The Business Briefing newsletter delivers major stories, exclusive coverage and expert opinion. Sign up to get it every weekday morning<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"NickNick Toscano<\/a> is a business reporter for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":799378,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-799377","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\/799377","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=799377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799377\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/799378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=799377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=799377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=799377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}