Australia Blocked A Chinese-linked Company From Buying Australian Lithium Mines

On July 21, according to Reuters, a spokesman for Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers said that following the advice of the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB), The country has barred a company with ties to China from buying financially troubled lithium miner Alita Resources Ltd. This is the second FIRB decision this year to block Chinese investment in key minerals.
Chalmers issued an injunction preventing Austroid of the United States from acquiring the remaining 90.10 percent of lithium miner Alita, giving it full control. Austroid's local subsidiary, Austroid Australia, is also prohibited from making a proposal to acquire full ownership of Alita, the injunction notice said.
Austroid Australia's director, Mike Que, is a Chinese citizen with extensive experience in China's mining industry, including a father who was once the richest man in Gansu province and has a major interest in Western Resources, a Chinese lithium battery maker, company documents show. Mike Que also served as the sole director of the Cayman Islands company China Hydrogen Energy Limited (CHEL), whose 2019 attempt to acquire Alita failed to gain FIRB approval.
Alita has been hosted since 2019. Austroid said in a statement it was "shocked and disappointed" by the decision to block the debt-for-equity deal and said the impact on operations at the Bald Hill lithium mine, which exports to China, was not yet fully understood. Following the appointment of administrators in 2019, Austroid has invested heavily in Bald Hill, enabling it to reopen in 2022.
In a notice to shareholders on Wednesday, Alita administrator McGrath Nicol said Austroid had indicated it had withdrawn its application to the FIRB and intended to make a new application.
Mr Chalmer's office declined to say whether the takeover had been blocked on grounds of national interest. Beijing has previously criticised Australia for blocking Chinese investment on national security grounds. Mr Wang, China's top diplomat, said last week after meeting his Australian counterpart, Huang Yingxian, that Australia should provide a "non-discriminatory business environment" for Chinese companies to invest in Australia. A Treasury report in July showed China dropped out of Australia's top 10 sources of foreign investment in the first quarter of 2023. Chalmers declared this week that China should make more progress on lifting trade restrictions on Australian exports ahead of a planned visit to Beijing by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.