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In June 2024, Treasurer Jim Chalmers issued disposal orders under section 69 of the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act 1975 (Cth) directing five foreign investors — including Indian Ocean International Shipping and Service Company Ltd — to divest their shareholdings in Northern Minerals Limited by September 2024. The grounds were national security: Northern Minerals' Browns Range project in Western Australia is one of very few commercial-scale deposits outside China capable of producing dysprosium and terbium, the heavy rare earth elements essential to neodymium-iron-boron permanent magnets used in EV motors, wind-turbine generators, and defence-grade guidance systems.
Indian Ocean, incorporated in the UAE with Ms Jing Tian as sole director and shareholder, did not comply. Instead, on 22–23 July 2024 Indian Ocean transferred its NTU shares to Ms Tian; they were returned a week later; then on 6 August 2024 Ms Tian received the shares again; and on 27 August 2024 Ms Tian transferred all 100 of her Indian Ocean shares to Ms Ning Lyu and resigned as director. The Treasurer commenced Federal Court proceedings on 26 June 2025 under FATA section 89(1) (later cited as contravention pursued under section 82(3) of the Regulatory Powers (Standard Provisions) Act 2014 (Cth)).
Justice Perram found the share transfers violated the disposal order and imposed the AUD 14 million penalty — the first civil penalty ever ordered by an Australian court for breach of a Treasurer's FATA disposal order.
The penalty is operationally significant as a precedent but modest in financial scale (AUD 14M). The underlying asset — Northern Minerals' Browns Range dysprosium/terbium project — remains under scrutiny and the divestment outcome remains contested (a fresh cohort of six China-linked investors subsequently acquired NTU shares and are subject to new May 2026 disposal orders, filed separately). Severity 3 reflects high symbolic/precedent value with contained direct economic impact.
estate. Signals the Treasury will pursue court penalties — not just voluntary compliance — for national-security-driven disposal-order breaches. Expected deterrent effect on future non- compliance across critical-minerals investment targets.
near-term ex-China commercial-scale heavy-REE sources. Securing Australian-government control of the shareholder register is structurally relevant to the Western rare-earth diversification architecture alongside US DoD-funded projects, EU CRM Act offtake objectives, and Japan/Korea METI-backed sourcing strategies.
investors; this penalty resolves the Indian Ocean/Tian non-compliance strand. A fresh set of six China-linked investors (Hong Kong Ying Tak, Real International Resources, Qogir, Chuanyou Cong, Vastness Investment, Zhongxiong Lin) accumulated NTU shares after the original orders and are subject to the May 2026 section 69(2) disposal orders (separate filing).
will be appealed.
separate FIRB scrutiny as the new controller of Indian Ocean's residual NTU position.
status.