China’s bid to gain control of the world’s richest rare earth deposit in 2009 was blocked by Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board on concern it would threaten supply to non-Chinese buyers.
State-owned China Non-Ferrous Metal Mining (Group) Co. in May 2009 offered A$252 million for a 51.6 percent stake in Lynas Corp., which needed cash to resume development of the Mount Weld rare earth mine in Western Australia.
Minutes of a meeting by the review board on Sept. 23, 2009, obtained by Bloomberg News through an Australia Freedom of Information Act request, show a concern the deal could undermine Australia as a reliable trading partner.
"We have concluded that they would not be able to exclude the possibility that Lynas’ production could be controlled to the detriment of non-Chinese end users,” the minutes show. That would have been “inconsistent with the government’s policy of maintaining Australia’s position as a reliable supplier to all our trading partners and hence potentially contrary to national interest."
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