Two Chinese Firms Blocked From Australia’s Rare Earth Sector

Samples of rare earth minerals from left: Cerium oxide, Bastnaesite, Neodymium oxide and Lanthanum carbonate at Molycorp's Mountain Pass Rare Earth facility in Mountain Pass, California. U.S. on June 29, 2015. David Becker/Reuters)

Two Chinese firms have been blocked from investing in Australia’s valuable rare earth mineral sector in the past week.

It comes in the midst of tightening foreign investment rules during the virus outbreak and aligns with the federal government’s ongoing partnership with the United States to ensure rare earth supply chains are secure and not dominated by China.