Australia orders China-linked investors to sell stakes in rare earths firm

Subscribed with another email? Logout and Login with that one. Account subscription benefits alongside Premium Stories, Editorials, Opinions and more. Unlock these with Subscription The View From India Looking at World Affairs from the Indian perspective. First Day First Show News and reviews from the world of cinema and streaming. Today's Cache Your download of the top 5 technology stories of the day. Science For All The weekly newsletter from science writers takes the jargon out of science and puts the fun in! Data Point Decoding the headlines with facts, figures, and numbers THEdge At the cutting edge of education and careers Health Matters Ramya Kannan writes to you on getting to good health, and staying there Gender Agenda Stories from beyond the binary. The Hindu On Books Books of the week, reviews, excerpts, new titles and features. Published - May 18, 2026 12:14 pm IST - Sydney Northern Minerals is vying to challenge China’s dominance of dysprosium production, a rare earth mineral used to make high-performance magnets used in electric vehicles. | Photo Credit: AP Australia ordered a string of China-linked shareholders to sell their stakes in a rare earths firm on Monday (May 18, 2026), citing the need to protect the sector from foreign control. Northern Minerals is vying to challenge China's dominance of dysprosium production, a rare earth mineral used to make high-performance magnets used in electric vehicles. Chinese investors have been snapping up shares in an effort to exert sway over the firm — on one occasion even launching a bid to topple its chair. Wary of a stealth takeover, the company referred itself to Australia's foreign investment review board in November 2025. Treasurer Jim Chalmers said six shareholders would be forced to exit Northern Minerals. "We 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," he said in a statement. Three of those shareholders had addresses listed in China, two were listed in Hong Kong, and one was listed in the British Virgin Islands. The list included some of Northern Minerals' largest single shareholders, including Beijing-based Vastness Investment Group, which held more than six percent of the firm. Vastness tried to use its sizeable stake to replace the chair of Northern Minerals earlier this year. It eventually withdrew its bid to vote on the company's leadership at an extraordinary general meeting. Hong-Kong based Qogir Trading and Service Company separately holds almost 5% of Northern Minerals. Australia has over the past two years waged a running battle to pry Northern Minerals away from Chinese investors. It used the same foreign takeover laws in 2024 to force a different group of Chinese investors to sell shares in Northern Minerals. Northern Minerals said it was "currently considering the new disposal orders and will make a further announcement once it has done so". The United States signed a deal in October last year unlocking greater access to Australia's deposits of rare earths and critical minerals. Northern Minerals was one of the Australian companies singled out under the deal, which touted the need to "diversify critical supply chains". China controls some of the world's largest reserves of rare earth elements. It wields enormous influence as almost the sole country able to refine the metals on an industrial scale. Manufacturing nations such as the United States, Germany, and South Korea are on the hunt for alternative sources. Northern Minerals has the rights to a substantial dysprosium deposit found at Browns Range in Western Australia. It bills itself as a "reliable alternative source" to "production sourced from China". Almost 99% of the world's dysprosium is currently produced in China, according to the company. The China-linked Yuxiao Fund sought to up its stake in Northern Minerals in 2024, a move that drew the attention of Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board. Yuxiao Fund and four other associated shareholders were subsequently given 60 days to dispose of their interests in the company. The Australian Securities Exchange halted trading in Northern Minerals on Monday (May 18) morning. Australia / China / rare earths / investments / foreign investment Copyright© 2026, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. Terms & conditions | Institutional Subscriber Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments. We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.

Australia orders China-linked investors to sell stakes in rare earths firm

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Australia orders China-linked investors to sell stakes in rare earths firm

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