The 11 foreign investors ordered by the Australian government to divest their stakes in ASX-listed rare earths miner Northern Minerals (NTU) appear, at first glance, to be unrelated entities scattered across multiple jurisdictions. But corporate records reviewed by Dealreporter indicate many of the investors are linked through ownership and business interests tied to China’s mining industry.

These connections, which include links to some of China’s largest rare earths groups, emerge as the Australian government continues efforts to unwind Chinese-linked ownership of NTU, which owns the strategically significant Browns Range heavy rare earths project in Western Australia.

Last week, Treasurer Jim Chalmers issued interim orders preventing three of the investors from exercising their voting rights after they failed to comply with a national security order to sell their holdings to unrelated parties by 2 July. The move followed a similar order issued under the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act 1975 against five shareholders in June 2024.

At the time law firm McCullough Robertson said the Treasurer’s June 2024 decision to compel Singapore-registered Yuxiao Fund and four associates to divest their NTU holdings reflected the Federal Government’s broader push to strengthen Australia’s critical minerals sector.

The latest orders have drawn criticism from China. The Global Times, a Chinese state-run media outlet, quoted commentators as saying the decision to force the divestments amounted to an arbitrary exclusion of Chinese capital and risked undermining Australia’s reputation as a reliable destination for foreign investment.

The two disposal orders target 11 entities incorporated or registered in mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore, the British Virgin Islands and the UAE. While the orders identify the investors, their shareholdings and acquisition dates, authorities have provided little public explanation of how they are connected or why they are deemed a national security concern.

A review of corporate records, including filings from mainland China, Hong Kong and the British Virgin Islands, identified 25 individuals linked to the 11 shareholders as directors, former directors or beneficial owners. Public records and other open-source research indicate that many of them have overlapping business interests and connections within China’s mining, mineral processing and rare earths industries.

Many of these connections also converge on two industry figures: Wu Tao, the ultimate controller of Yuxiao Fund and Jinan Yuxiao Group, which has extensive mining extraction and mineral processing interests spanning China and Mozambique; and Dong Wen, founder of Hainan Wensheng High Tech Materials, a Chinese mineral processing company that was acquired in 2017 by Shenghe Resources and renamed Shenghe Zirconium Titanium.

Jinan Yuxiao Group 

Wu Tao’s extensive mining interests and links to major Chinese rare earths players were first profiled by Force Distance Times on 6 June 2024. The report highlighted Jinan Yuxiao’s close ties to Shenghe Resources, China’s leading globally focused rare earths group, and its strategic cooperation agreement with China Northern Rare Earth, the world’s largest rare earths producer by output.

This news service found multiple links between other shareholders targeted by the government’s orders and businesses associated with Wu and Jinan Yuxiao.

These include UAE-incorporated Indian Ocean International Shipping and Service Company Limited, which was also targeted by the initial disposal orders in June 2024. Indian Ocean shares its name with a Hong Kong-incorporated company whose directors and shareholders have ties to Jinan Yuxiao.

According to Hong Kong corporate records, Indian Ocean (Hong Kong) is directed by Chen Miao, who chairs multiple Jinan Yuxiao subsidiaries. Its sole shareholder, BVI registered WES Investments, owns 55% of Hong Kong Rare Metal Mining Development, which is also 45%-owned by Jinan Yuxiao.

Last year Indian Ocean (UAE) was subject to the Treasurer’s first legal action before the Federal Court for an alleged breach of foreign investment laws after it failed to divest its NTU stake to a non-associate and instead transferred shares to its own director Jing Tian. In January the Court handed the two parties a combined AUD 14m fine.

Other shareholders with links to Jinan Yuxiao include Black Stone Resources whose sole director is Yang Deci, according to BVI filings. Chinese corporate filings show Yang has interests alongside Wu Tao or Jinan Yuxiao-affiliated entities in at least two mining-related ventures, including at least one where he serves as the legal representative.

Hainan Wensheng network

A second cluster of connections stem from Hong Kong Ying Tak, an import and export business that was subject to the June 2024 disposal orders, and its general manager and co-owner Dong Yun. Public records indicate Dong Yun is the son of Dong Wen, the founder of Hainan Wensheng High Tech Materials and director of Ying Tak until December 2025. In a 2020 report, the German Mineral Resources Agency (Deutsche Rohstoffagentur) described the business as China’s “most important” heavy mineral separation company. The company and its affiliates are involved in the processing of mineral sands and rare-earth-bearing minerals.

Dong Wen, Dong Yun and Xie Junrong, a director of Ying Tak, jointly own and manage Hainan Wensheng Zi Ti Industry, a mineral sands investment and trading company which, alongside Jinan Yuxiao and others, recently sponsored a titanium and zirconium conference in Guangdong, China. Dong Wen has spoken at the annual conference.

Additional records reveal links between Dong Wen, Yang Deci and Real International Resources director Chen Shihao. Dong Wen controls and owns 48% of Hainan Zi Ti Resources, while Chen Shihao holds 41% and Yang Deci the remaining 11%.

Dealreporter’s detailed map of the ownership and business connections is available here.

Drilling for board seats 

Wu Tao, who does not appear on shareholder disclosures relating to his NTU investments, was not publicly connected to Yuxiao Fund until early 2023 when the Treasurer blocked the fund’s request to increase its 9.81% stake in NTU to 19.9%. The government did not give reasons for the decision.

Even after Wu was found to be the ultimate controller of NTU’s largest shareholder, former executive chairman Nick Curtis publicly played down concerns.

“He’s a financial investor. He’s very wealthy and has a very good business. I’ve met the guy and there’s nothing to see there that gives me any cause for concern,” Curtis told The AFR in March 2023.

By the end of the year Wu was trying to remove Curtis as a director, requesting to inspect the company’s books and pushing for a seat on the board. In response NTU began reviewing its share register and, in light of the prohibition order against Yuxiao Fund, referred the matter to the Foreign Investment Review Board.

A few months later possible links between various Chinese-linked NTU shareholders came into sharper focus. In the lead-up to NTU’s June 2024 AGM four shareholder-backed candidates were nominated for election to the board.

Alongside Yuxiao Fund’s nominee, Wu Tao, shareholders were asked to elect three other candidates, including Dong Yun. The three candidates’ disclosed experience included operating a pizza franchise, working in retail banking customer service and managing a restaurant.

Yun’s resume, as submitted to NTU and summarised by the miner, appears to give limited weight to his connections to China’s mining sector. While it notes his early-2023 role as a general manager’s assistant at “Hainan Wensheng”, it devoted equal or greater detail to his experience managing a Chinese restaurant.

Despite lacking board support, all four shareholder-backed nominees attracted substantial votes. Wu Tao and Dong Yun fell just one and eight percentage points short of election, respectively. The outcome came only days after the government identified Yuxiao Fund as one of five parties subject to its 2 June 2024 disposal order.

NTU has not held another AGM since.

Dealreporter found little evidence linking several of the remaining shareholders to China’s mining industry.

Apart from Hong Kong-incorporated Qogir Trading & Service’s acquisition of shares from Yuxiao Fund, Dealreporter found no public information on the company’s business activities or connections to the other shareholders targeted by the government’s orders.

Another low-profile shareholder is Vastness Investment Group, a BVI-registered entity that lists an address in China. Its sole director, Huaying Hou, filed a substantial shareholder disclosure notice in relation to NTU as early as July 2020, but attracted little public attention until January 2026, when Vastness sought an EGM to oust executive chairman Adam Handley from the board. It withdrew the request in March.

Rare earth geopolitics

“These are fascinating findings,” said Ian Satchwell, a senior fellow at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, that will be well known to the Australian authorities. “But the government does not need or want to disclose its findings because China is Australia’s largest trading partner, accounting for a third of exports.”

Satchwell added that the Northern Minerals case was likely to have broader implications for Australia’s foreign investment regime “and almost certainly drive changes to the Foreign Investment Laws.”

Last year a Treasury discussion paper on proposed changes to the FIL referenced the legal action taken against Indian Ocean (UAE) for “non-compliance with an order to dispose of shares in a critical minerals company”.

The delays to the development of Browns Range can partly be attributed to the foreign shareholders and this is a problem from a supply-chain perspective where “time is of the essence”, said Satchwell.

Browns Range is one of the few advanced heavy rare earth projects outside China and is planned to be a key source of feed for Iluka Resources’ government-backed Eneabba refinery – itself one of a small number of facilities outside China capable of producing separated heavy rare earth oxides.

Northern Minerals declined to comment. Australia’s Treasury had not responded by time of publication.

Dealreporter was unable to obtain comment from the Chinese Foreign Ministry. However, on 18 May, in response to a reporter’s question about the disposal orders, a ministry spokesperson said China “consistently opposes” the “overexpansion of the concept of national security” and interference with normal investment activities, and called on Australia to respect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese investors and provide a fair, transparent and non-discriminatory environment for foreign investment.

Attempts to reach Hong Kong Ying Tak, Qogir Trading and Indian Ocean (Hong Kong) via their company secretaries were unsuccessful. Dealreporter was unable to obtain contact details for Indian Ocean (UAE) or the other investors subject to the disposal orders.

Jinan Yuxiao Group, Hainan Wensheng Zi Ti Industry and Hainan Zi Ti Resources did not respond to requests for comment.