Cash-strapped rare earths developer Hastings Technology Metals has not been allowed to draw down the $220 million of taxpayers’ funds pledged towards its Yangibana project more than 33 months after the first tranche of the proposed loan was announced.

The federal government’s Northern Australia Infrastructure Fund confirmed that Hastings had still not met the conditions required to access the money, and the agency would need to review Hastings’ strategic pivot towards China before deciding whether to proceed with the loan.