Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers has barred Hong Kong-based Ying Tak from voting or transferring 361.5 million shares in Northern Minerals, the Australian rare earths miner said on Wednesday.
The shares’ transfer from Black Stone Resources and others may have breached a 2024 national interest order that required five China-linked investors to divest a combined 613.6 million shares, it said.
The interim directions underline Canberra’s scrutiny of foreign ownership in critical minerals, as Western governments seek to secure supply chains dominated by China for use in defence and clean energy technologies.
The move follows a June 2024 decision ordering Yuxiao Fund and four associates, including Ximei Liu, Xi Wang and Black Stone Resources, to divest a combined 613.6 million shares, or about 10.4% of the company. Yuxiao Fund, linked to Chinese investor Wu Yuxiao, had been given 60 days to sell down an 80 million share purchase.
Chalmers said he had reason to believe part of those shares were transferred to Hong Kong Ying Tak in a way that may have contravened the earlier disposal order, prompting the government to freeze the voting and transfer rights attached to the stake.
The restrictions will remain until Northern Minerals’ next annual general meeting, due by June 30, 2026, while the Foreign Investment Review Board continues its investigation.
(By Roushni Nair and Melanie Burton; Editing by Shreya Biswas and Stephen Coates)
