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CZR Resources (ASX:CZR) has been forced to keep the breaks on its Robe Mesa Iron Ore Project sale for another month – extending the delay to a round year – after the Foreign Investment Review Board checks failed again.
The FIRB has had the transaction of the $102 million sale to Chinese businessman Frank Yin and his Perth-based Miracle Iron on its desk since as far back as January 2024.
Stefan Murphy, CZR’s managing director, today explained the last approvals had been expected by the end of November but the wait goes on.
The biggest sticking point – and why CZR may be a little peeved behind the scenes – is the fact the delay has shaken Yin’s interest. Because CZR has been working on satisfying the FIRB approval conditions for so long, the two parties had last month actually agreed to end the exclusivity obligation in their agreement.
There’s now every chance that, considering how long its taken CZR just to get to this point, the new January 24 sunset date may be the final time they can delay things; Yin and his Miracle Iron team may chase other buys through 2025 instead.
It’s a sting that recently saw Mr Murphy say everyone at CZR was “very surprised” and “frustrated” by the FIRB-driven bureaucratic abyss the sale had fallen in to.
He has also several times claimed the FIRB fails to give any real guidance on the delays.
Either way, the news was, unsurprisingly, not taken well by investors.
The multi-project Perth miner had been up as much as 2.6% on Friday, but indicative trading for today has it dropping on the sales delay news.
It’s a sharp turn around from the excitement that gripped those invested in the company in January this year: When the $102M stake sale was unveiled on January 10, shares in CZR surged as much as 42.9%, up to 30 cents.
The twelve months of delays has drained away much of that hype through to market open today though, where CZR was trading at 20cps and may soon drop.
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