Pattaya sees rise in independent Chinese tourists amid decline in group tours

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Caution Urged as Myanmar Poised to Embrace More Mining

Ron Corben

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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