Northern Minerals delays meeting over share sale

·       Northern Minerals has been granted a three-month extension to delay its annual general meeting to ensure the sale of Chinese-linked shares.

·       The announcement left the miner's stock unchanged on the market.

·       The delay aims to block investors under divestment orders from voting on upcoming company resolutions.

Rare earths developer Northern Minerals (ASX:NTU) has secured a three-month extension to delay its annual general meeting until Sept. 30 to prevent specific Chinese-linked shareholders from voting on company business.

The scheduling shift follows federal government actions where Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers repeatedly ordered entities linked to China to divest their cumulative 17.6 per cent stake in the business.

The business stated that the new timeline will assist in ensuring that the disposals are completed prior to the holding of the 2025 annual general meeting, and provide Treasury and the company a reasonable period of time to assess whether the new disposal orders have been complied with.

The targeted investors face a July 2 deadline to sell down their stakes after concerns arose that they had flouted original orders by transferring holdings to closely associated buyers.

The ongoing share structure dispute highlights heightened national security scrutiny over Western Australia's crucial raw materials sector.

Following the announcement the Northern Minerals share price was unchanged at $0.03.

Northern Minerals is currently developing a heavy rare earths mining project located in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.

The developer noted that allied global manufacturers require these specific heavy rare earth elements to produce advanced defence systems and components.