今年大宗商品价格的强劲反弹和债券市场的解冻令澳大利亚资源业出现了复苏，寻求海外资金改善资产负债状况或为新项目融资的矿业公司数量也减少了。

　　这促使澳大利亚监管机构对进入该国的海外投资采取了更强硬的立场。

　　不过，澳大利亚资源业需要海外投资进行新项目的开发，政府也不希望对有意者完全关上大门。

　　澳大利亚政府一直坚决执行重点考虑购买少数股权而非全盘收购的海外投资者的做法。

　　澳大利亚外国投资审查委员会（Foreign Investment Review Board）9月24日表示，希望海外投资者将它们计划收购的澳大利亚大型资源类公司的股份比例限制在不超过15%.在新项目上的投资应最高不超过50%.

　　澳大利亚外国投资审查委员会总经理科尔默（Patrick Colmer）说，政府已表示会优先考虑各种形式的合资项目。

　　他说：我们更乐于看到的是，对创建投资或新项目的投资比例低于50%，对主要生产商的投资低于15%.

　　市场人士说，这是政府一段时间以来暗中传递的信息，中国投资者现在看来已认识到这点，在过去一年里削减了交易规模，以满足政府将澳大利亚矿产公司持股比例降至50%以下的偏好。

　　但最近中国提出的许多交易都超过了50%的关口。一位投资银行家说，澳大利亚外国投资审查委员会的评论可能是澳大利亚希望向中国传递不会再批准这类交易的讯息。

　　这位银行家说，他们一直私下向中国人表示这点，而中国方面仍继续把目光投向要求50%以上股份的交易，因此他们现在可能决定公开表明这点，以说服中方不要再这样做。

　　对中国投资者来说，澳大利亚外国投资审查委员会的表态阐明了一些外国投资的审查过程。过去，有人一直批评这个过程缺乏透明度，充满不确定性。

　　政府重新采取强硬路线让兖州煤业（Yanzhou Coal Mining Co.）以38亿澳元（33亿美元）收购煤炭企业Felix Resources Ltd. 100%股份的交易成为关注的焦点，也对其它计划中的交易也会有影响。

　　Felix股票上周五下跌3%，收于16.75澳元（14.49美元），并未比兖州煤业16.95澳元的报价低多少，对出现竞购对手所抱的希望也在某种程度上支撑了股价。

　　Felix董事总经理弗兰纳里（Brian Flannery）对此不予置评，兖州煤业发言人说，该公司尊重澳大利亚监管体系，并拒绝发表更多评论。

　　澳大利亚说，它是以个案方式对主要外国投资计划进行审核的。

　　在过去18个月里，澳大利亚外国投资审查委员会共审核了90项来自中国的投资计划，总价值为340亿澳元。

　　澳大利亚外国投资审查委员会上周四就展示了其强硬立场，拒绝了中国有色金属有限公司（China Nonferrous Metals Co.）收购稀土开发商Lynas Corp. 51.6%股份的计划。

　　澳大利亚外国投资审查委员会希望有国家背景的中国有色金属有限公司收购不超过50%的股份，并将董事数量降至董事会总人数的一半以下，但这些修改对中方是不能接受的，于是他们选择了放弃。

　　澳大利亚外国投资审查委员会的科尔默说，具体情况将按照其价值进行判断，政府将采取灵活态度，这点可以由许多股份超过50%的交易获得批准得到证实。

　　但在其中很多情况下，矿业公司都深陷大宗商品价格暴跌及债券市场冻结加剧的融资问题引发的现金流危机，因此迫切希望获得来自中国的资金，这让政府更容易做出批准的决定。

　　Australia Limits Foreign Investors

　　A strong rebound in commodity prices and thawing debt markets this year have led to a recovery in the Australian resources sector， with fewer distressed miners seeking foreign cash to shore up their balance sheets or to fund projects.

　　This has emboldened Australian regulators to take a tougher stance against foreign investment that has been entering the country.

　　Australia's resources industry needs foreign investment to develop new projects， however， and the government is keen not to shun interest.

　　The government has been able to firmly enforce its preference for foreign investors to take minority stakes rather than opt for a takeover.

　　Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board on Thursday expressed its desire that overseas investors should limit their proposed stakes in major Australian resource companies to no more than 15%. Investments in new projects should be capped at less than 50%.

　　"Our government has expressed a preference for projects that are joint projects in various forms，"said FIRB General Manager Patrick Colmer.

　　"We are much more comfortable when we see investments that are below 50% for green field [or new projects] and below 15% for major producers."

　　Market participants say this has been the government message behind the scenes for some time， and Chinese investors now seem to have acknowledged it by tailoring deals over the past year to meet the government's preference for stakes in Australian miners to under 50%.

　　But recently China pitched a number of deals above the 50% mark， and one investment banker said FIRB's comments may be Australia's attempt to send a message to China that it won't approve any more of these deals.

　　"They have been saying it privately to the Chinese and the Chinese keep bringing [deals that require more than a 50% stake]， so maybe they have decided now to make it public to try to convince them not to do it，"said the banker.

　　For Chinese investors， the FIRB's comments provide some clarity on a foreign-investment-review process that has been criticized by some for its uncertainty and lack of transparency.

　　The government's renewed hard line puts Yanzhou Coal Mining Co.'s 3.8 billion Australian dollar （US$3.30 billion） offer for 100% of coal miner Felix Resources Ltd. in the spotlight and also has implications for other proposed transactions.

　　Felix shares closed Friday down 3% at A$16.75 （US$14.49）， not far below Yanzhou's offer of A$16.95 with hopes of a rival bid also playing a part in supporting the stock.

　　Felix Managing Director Brian Flannery declined to comment， and a spokesman for Yanzhou said the group respected the Australian regulatory regime and declined to comment further.

　　Australia says it assesses major foreign-investment proposals on a case-by-case basis.

　　In the past 18 months， FIRB has reviewed 90 Chinese investment proposals valued at A$34 billion.

　　Making good on its tougher stance， FIRB on Thursday rejected China Nonferrous Metal Mining Co.'s proposal to take a 51.6% stake in rare-earth developer Lynas Corp.

　　FIRB wanted the state-backed Chinese group to take a stake of less than 50% and reduce its director numbers to less than half of the board， but the amendments were a deal breaker for the Chinese， who have walked away.

　　FIRB's Mr. Colmer said cases would be judged on their merits and the government would be flexible， and this appears to be borne out by a number of deals where stakes of more than 50% have been approved.

　　But in most of these cases， the mining companies were wrestling with a cash-flow crisis sparked by the crash in commodities or financing issues exacerbated by frozen debt markets， and desperately needed the Chinese capital on offer， making approval an easier decision for the government.