CHINESE police disclosed yesterday that a Chinese tycoon whose disappearance threatened to disrupt deals with mining companies in the United States and Australia is being held on suspicion he helped hide a brother who is a murder suspect.

A newspaper reported this week that Liu Han, chairman of Sichuan Hanlong Group, was detained in mid-March by police in Beijing. A two-sentence statement yesterday by the public security ministry was the first official word about Liu.

Liu is under investigation on charges of harboring a fugitive and other unspecified "serious offenses," the statement said. It announced the capture of his brother as a "major murder suspect" but gave no other details.

Police in Chengdu, where Liu lives, said they had no more information.

Liu's company said this week that it was unable to reach him by phone.

Hanlong owns a 13 percent stake in General Moly, a miner of molybdenum, a mineral used to harden steel. Hanlong was arranging financing for a mine in Nevada.

General Moly said on Wednesday it had suspended work on a US$665 million loan for its Mt. Hope mine from China Development Bank until it receives clarification from Hanlong.

Hanlong also owns 14 percent of Australia's Sundance Resources, which is developing an iron mine in Congo and neighboring Cameroon in central Africa.

Hanlong is offering A$1.5 billion (US$1.6 billion) to acquire the rest of the company. Sundance said this week that the deal has yet to receive final approval from China's economic planning agency.

Liu was No. 148 on Forbes' list of the richest Chinese last year, with assets estimated at US$855 million.