Shares in CZR fell nearly 10 per cent on Tuesday following news of the latest delay.

CZR Resources boss Stefan Murphy is “very surprised” and “frustrated” that the $102 million sale of an 85 per cent stake in the Robe Mesa project to Chuanshui (Frank) Yin’s Miracle Iron is stuck in a bureaucratic abyss.

He told The West Australian there’s been no substantive guidance from FIRB as to why there’s been six delays, despite no issues being raised and “very few” requests for information.

“It’s been a bit of a black box approach … approval was originally meant to be completed in February,” Mr Murphy said.

“It was only a month or so ago now that the (Federal) Treasurer came out looking to promote foreign investment and speed up the process.

“Since that announcement we’ve had two (FIRB) extensions, so we haven’t really seen that translate into reality for us.”

He says CZR — which counts billionaire prospector Mark Creasy as the major shareholder — has not been alone in its FIRB struggles, pointing to the delays that impacted the acquisition of Azure Minerals. Azure also had Mr Creasy at the pointy end of its share register.

The buyer of the controlling Robe Mesa stake — Mr Yin — hails from China but has been based in Perth for many years, holding board positions at ASX-listed companies.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers in late April unveiled an overhaul of Australia’s foreign investment regime, which was seen by many as move to freeze out Chinese investment in critical minerals projects while speeding up the approvals process for others deemed not vital to the country’s national security.

Mr Murphy is perplexed at the FIRB hold-up given iron ore is not classed as a critical mineral and the deal is small-fry in the grand scheme of WA’s immense iron ore mining sector.

“Robe Mesa will produce about 5 million tonnes per annum versus the State’s output of 950mt, so about half a percent of WA’s total exports — not crucial at all.”

For now, at least, Mr Yin remains committed to the project and Mr Murphy is hopeful the FIRB headaches won’t change that.

The latest FIRB setback has forced CZR and Mr Yin to push out the sunset date for the sale settlement. The two parties shook hands on the deal in January.

“Miracle Iron are continuing to fund the project’s development, work is continuing on site and they are very well embedded in the project,” he said.

“But it’s already slowing down other things, so for instance we are in the Ashburton Link joint venture and we are looking at putting down some serious capital but this is slowing it down.”

The Ashburton Link JV is developing the export gateway for Robe Mesa.

Robe Mesa is scheduled to produce first iron ore in the second quarter of next year and employ about 470 workers at its peak.

Ore from the mine will be transported about 150km west via road to the Port of Ashburton near Onslow and then loaded onto transhippers.

Mineral Resources’ under-construction private haul road could potentially come into play as a transport avenue.

FIRB falls under the purview of Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers.

A spokeswoman from the Treasury department said it does not comment on “the application of the foreign investment framework to specific cases”.

“Foreign investment proposals are reviewed on a case by case, risk-based approach to ensure they are in line with the national interest, including national security,” she said.

“Monitoring and maintaining strong compliance with foreign investment legislation is a priority for the government.

“Foreign investors are expected to understand and comply with their obligations under Australian law.”