From todays AFR Northern Minerals narrowly fends off mystery board appointment Northern Minerals has narrowly fended off a mystery director being elected to its board just weeks after Treasury flagged it could put new shareholders under the microscope over suspected links to China.
The Perth-based rare earths miner is strategically important to the federal government and its plans to develop a domestic processing industry for critical minerals used for weapons systems and wind turbines as it pushes to break China’s monopoly over the sector.
At Northern Minerals’ annual general meeting on Friday, 48 per cent of the company’s shareholders voted for the election of Enping Fu to the company’s board, despite it recommending against his appointment due to a lack of information on his background.
The company had also warned it could not precisely ascertain the ultimate owners, or beneficiaries of the two minor shareholders behind Mr Fu’s nomination – Tri Global Resources Limited, and Wenping Zeng.
The close call comes just six weeks after Treasury confirmed it would run the ruler over any new major shareholders of Northern Minerals, and five months after the government ordered several of its investors with links to China to sell their shares in the company after covertly increasing their stakes without approval.
NTU Price at posting:
2.0¢ Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
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