Ringer / TinMan, agree with your takes. Seems like some backroom manoeuvring to get the Chinese interest out of Noront for the US/Canada Critical Minerals strategy. How they got Baosteel out of the deal, who knows.

It's like the $1.8 billion LG/SK settlement that seems like Biden admin had to step in to broker.

"The settlement will avert a 10-year import ban of SK Innovation’s batteries into the U.S. and ends the two-year dispute between the two companies. The import ban threatened to complicate the rollout of Ford Motor Co.’s new F-150 electric pickup truck and the Volkswagen AG’s ID.4 SUV, both due to begin production next year with EV batteries assembled at an SK Innovation plant in politically important Georgia."

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-10/ford-vw-battery-supplier-said-to-reach-deal-to-avoid-import-ban