Federal MP Clive Palmer has resigned as director of his own company Mineralogy, as it faces a court battle with a Chinese conglomerate.

Mr Palmer's Parliamentary register of interests has been altered to show he resigned his directorship of the company on May 20.

He also resigned his directorship of two companies behind his loss-making nickel refinery.

Mineralogy is in a court dispute over iron ore royalties with Chinese state-owned Citic Pacific Corporation, which operates a $10 billion mine in Western Australia.

The legal stoush is over royalty payments for the Sino Iron project in WA's Pilbara.

Citic claims that Mineralogy has provided no documentation to explain two withdrawals totalling $12 million from an account set up to run a port at Cape Preston.

WA Premier Colin Barnett weighed in on the issue last month saying Mr Palmer was threatening relations with China.

"I've spent hours and hours negotiating issues with Clive in good faith and then found that he will try and exploit any small discrepancy, and he's doing that with the relationship with Chinese investors in our iron ore industry. It's not doing this state any good at all.

"He has used his position - perhaps not improperly, but unfairly - to make it extremely difficult for the Chinese group that bought those rights to make the project work successfully."