More useful commentary here from the above AFR article (I can’t...

More useful commentary here from the above AFR article (I can’t paste the whole article due to restrictions).

”Mr Lockyer also noted that having a Chinese shareholder had become problematic in talking to some potential customers. Chinese state-owned group East China Non-Ferrous Mineral Resources has been a major Arafura shareholder and backer since 2009 but has been selling down its stake.

Last week, its nominee, Quansheng Zhang, resigned from the board.

Strategic decision

East China’s exit has gathered momentum since it declined to take part in a $121 million capital raising last December in which Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting emerged as a big backer with 10 per cent of Arafura stock.

The sell-down is part of a strategic decision by the Chinese group to focus on domestic projects amid a heavy emphasis by the US – through the Inflation Reduction Act – on building non-China critical minerals supply chains. Arafura’s strategy is to have binding offtake agreements in place for 85 per cent of the neodymium praseodymium oxide and metal it produces from Nolans, about 130 kilometres east of Alice Springs, and to target equipment manufacturers in countries with supportive export credit agencies.

Mr Lockyer said some downstream users of critical minerals were pushing to diversify supply chains that relied heavily on China.“If [Chinese entities] are a significant shareholder, and you’re trying to deal with customers that might be a bit more Sino-phobic, that is a problem for them because they don’t want the Chinese understanding what is their business,” Mr Lockyer said.”