On March 16, the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB), the watchdog that examines proposed foreign investment in Australia, announced a delay of 90 days for its decision on whether to approve the bid by Aluminum Corp. of China (Chinalco), China's largest aluminum producer, to purchase a stake in Australia-based mining giant Rio Tinto Ltd.
On February 12, Chinalco announced its plans to buy 18 percent of Rio Tinto for a total of $19.5 billion, pending approval from the FIRB.
The $19.5 billion deal will bring Chinalco stakes in a number of Rio Tinto's assets, will raise its holding in the latter to18 percent from nine percent, and will permit the Chinese firm to appoint two new non-executive members to the dual-listed mining company's board.
On the other hand, Australian lawmakers will vote whether to hold a broader inquiry into investments by foreign sovereign funds in the nation's mines after rejecting a probe into Chinalco's Rio Tinto bid.
Opposition Senator Barnaby Joyce, who has begun a "Keep Australia Australian" campaign, wants the Senate's economics committee to investigate investment by sovereign funds rather than just single out state-owned Chinalco's planned investment in Rio Tinto.
"We clearly want to avoid any confrontation in the future about a foreign government being the owner of Australian mines," Senator Joyce said.