Blocked Chinese Mining Firm Manoeuvres for Second Chance at Australian Rare Earth

Lithium-ion battery production line at the Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW) automobile manufacturing plant in Dingolfing, Germany, on Thursday, Aug. 21, 2014. (Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Following a failed bid to buy a stake in a Perth-based lithium miner on April 24, Chinese miner Yibin has restructured the agreement to avoid scrutiny from the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB).

A fortnight ago, Yibin Tianyi Lithium Industry withdrew a bid to buy an 11.77 percent stake in AVZ Minerals after it received advice from FIRB the bid would be blocked.