(Direct translation of news articles from various news sources.)
Protesting farmers stopping the mining trucks. |
The mining project is the
Letpandoung Copper Mine near Monywa in Sagaing Division of middle Burma. The project
is owned and operated by Myanmar-Wan Bao Mining Company the joint venture
between Chinese Government-owned Wan Bao Mining and Burma Military-owned Myanmar
Economic Holdings widely known in Burma as Oo-Baing.
The project is basically a
large-scale open-pit copper mine levelling the whole mountain known as Let-pan-doung
Taung and the project itself is a continuation of long-running copper mining
projects at nearby Za-bae Taung and Kyay-zin Taung mountains which are now just
two big holes deep in the ground.
Brief Background of Monywa Copper Mines
Signing of the Copper Mine Project at Beijing (2010). |
But Ivanhoe sold its
interest in the project to China’s NORINCO (China North Industrial Corporation)
in 2007 as it was forced to abandon Burma by the relentless pressure from the pro-democracy
groups in Canada. And now Wan Bao Mining a subsidy of Chinese Government-owned NORINCO
is the owner of the controlling assets previously owned by Ivanhoe.
The project agreement for
the Let-pan-doung Copper Mine was officially signed in Bejing in Mid-2010 and
the project was started at the site on January 1, 2011. The project took over about
8,000 acres of farmland and 26 villages in mid 2010 and the disputes between the
local farmers and government has been simmering since.
Ground Breaking Ceremony for Letpandoung Copper Mine in Jan 2011. |
As the public protests have
been rapidly turning into ugly anti-China and anti-Military protests the
Burmese Government is threatening the protesters with a serious crackdown by
security forces. Meanwhile four leading activists were arrested for a short
time by the police in Rangoon for their roles in the ugly protests.
To
be continued ……….