BANGKOK— New mining laws in Myanmar are expected to come
into place after November’s national elections, enticing more foreign
investment, but rights groups fear local communities could be imperiled
without more solid legal protections.
Analysts say Myanmar’s mining industry is still at the “frontier”
stage of development with prospects in precious metals as well as
copper, tin and tungsten.
John Hancock, an Australian lawyer and consultant in Yangon, said
there is plenty of enthusiasm with surveys of valuable deposits dating
back to British colonial times.
“I don’t think there’s any doubt in anyone’s mind that Myanmar is
what they call ‘highly prospective,’ with all the mineral surveys and
work that has been done in past times and seems to indicate that it has a
very high level of mineral wealth, a wide range of mineral wealth. And
all the geology is very promising," Hancock said.
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