So there is a precedent set by the FIRB in blocking Chinese interests.

Lets see if PEK gets the same treatment

https://www.copyright link/companies/mining/china-group-blames-australia-for-barring-stake-in-african-lithium-mine-20200426-p54n8h

China group blames Australia for

barring stake in African lithium mine

Apr 27, 2020 – 12.00am

Chinese interests have accused the Morrison government of blocking their investment in a small ASX-listed company with a lithium project in Africa that has never intended to bring product back to Australia for processing.

Perth-based AVZ Minerals has backed claims the government advised China’s Yibin Tianyi Lithium Industry Company that its planned $14.1 million investment would be vetoed because it was "contrary to the national interest".

Australia is taking a hard line on Chinese investment in mining companies in the electric vehicle battery supply chain. Bloomberg

AVZ is looking to develop the massive Manono lithium and tin project in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Yibin Tianyi advised AVZ it had withdrawn an application with Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board based on negative feedback from the government.

The lack of support for Yibin Tianyi's investment comes as the FIRB takes a much harder line on Chinese companies buying into the battery minerals supply chain and other sectors.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg declined to comment on the reasons behind the latest rebuff to China, saying the government did not comment on the application of foreign investment screening arrangements as they applied in particular cases.

However, Mr Frydenberg confirmed last week that the government had blocked China’s Baogang Group from investing in Northern Minerals and its rare earths project in Western Australia.

"The proposed acquisition of an interest in Northern Minerals was rejected on the basis it was considered contrary to the national interest," Mr Frydenberg said in a statement.

Yibin Tianyi is an emerging lithium chemicals producer backed by China’s largest electric vehicle battery maker, Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), and Shenzhen-listed Suzhou TA & A Ultra Clean Technology Company.

In a statement to the ASX after market close on Friday, AVZ said it appeared the government had rejected the investment based on a belief it was contrary to the national interest of "growing Australia’s critical minerals sector".

AVZ has forecast production of 87,500 tonnes a year of lithium carbonate equivalent from operations at Manono planned to start in 2022. The forecast is based on producing 700,000 tonnes a year of spodumene concentrate from what is one the world’s biggest undeveloped hard rock lithium deposits.

Yibin Tianyi had been set to emerge with a 12 per stake in AVZ and was in talks about a binding off-take agreement.

Pushing ahead

AVZ managing director Nigel Ferguson said the company was naturally disappointed with the outcome of the FIRB application process.

He said AVZ was confident it could still secure the short-term funding as well as the longer-term debt and equity finance it needs on competitive terms.

AVZ had never contemplated transporting spodumene concentrate from the DRC to Australia for processing.

China’s Tianqi owns the only lithium processing plant in Australia but has struggled to get it running at anywhere near capacity. Cash-strapped Tianqi is now looking to sell a stake in the plant and the world-class Greenbushes mine, both in WA.

CATL-backed Yibin Tianyi is close to completing a processing plant in its home city Yibin with initial production capacity of 25,000 tonnes a year of lithium hydroxide.

Under plans for staged expansion, the capacity could reach 100,000 tonnes a year and make it one of the biggest suppliers of lithium hydroxide in China.

There were no red flags to foreign investment in September when CATL emerged as the biggest shareholder in lithium miner Pilbara Minerals, paying $55 million for a 8.5 per cent stake.

Pilbara Minerals’ Pilgangoora mine is in WA’s Pilbara near the mothballed Wodgina lithium mine, owned by Mineral Resources and US battery metals giant Albemarle.

China’s Huayou Cobalt, with 9.4 per cent, is the biggest shareholder in AVZ, which has a market capitalisation of $140 million.

AVZ controls 65 per cent of Manono, a mineral deposit discovered by Belgian interests early last century and operated as a tin and tantalum mine from 1919 to 1982.

In the case of Northern Minerals, the government blocked a $20 million investment that would have given Baogang a 13 per cent stake in the emerging heavy rare earths producer.

Defence Minister Linda Reynolds last year welcomed a move by Northern Minerals to sign an off-take agreement with a non-Chinese customer in Thyssenkrupp, one of the biggest materials distributors to the Western world.

The off-take agreement was announced in August, just days after Northern Minerals terminated an off-take agreement with China’s Lianyugang Zeyu New Materials Sales Company, or JFMAG.

The government is determined to stop overseas buyers swooping on Australian companies and businesses whose values have plunged in the fallout from COVID-19.

New rules announced in March require FIRB scrutiny of all overseas investment no matter the amount.