Myanmar: Daunting Myanmar Mining Risks Keeps Investors to a Brave Handful

Jan 7, 2015 | South China Morning Post, Reuters
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With abundant mineral wealth from jade and rubies to copper and coal, Myanmar ought to be looking forward to a mining boom as it opens up its economy. But long-running insurgencies and a murky regulatory framework are holding back all but the intrepid.

Foreign investment in the Southeast Asian country as well as home-grown development were held back by 49 years of military rule that ended when a quasi-civilian, reformist government took office in 2011 and started courting investors.

The security and regulatory risks remain daunting, however, and although 69 foreign firms have registered to work in Myanmar’s mining sector, only 11 are operating.

One of them, Asia Pacific Mining Ltd (APML), has been granted an exploration licence covering 650 square km (250 square miles) in restive Shan State, where it hopes to find deposits of lead, zinc and silver.