Myanmar: Wanbao to begin copper production in Letpadaung in May despite continued land rights protests
“Chinese Company to Begin Controversial Copper Mining Operation in Myanmar”, 19 Feb 2016
A Chinese mining company will begin copper production at a controversial site in central Myanmar in May, a month after the new government led by the opposition party comes to power…
The large mine project operated by China’s Wanbao Mining Copper Ltd. Company and Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd. (UMEHL), a Myanmar an army-owned conglomerate, in the town of Letpadaung in Sagaing region has come under fire by local farmers who have long protested the company’s land takeovers in the area…
Wanbao, however, has no plan to compensate villagers annually for money they would have otherwise made from crops, because the company leased the land from the government, not the farmers, Dong Yunfei [Wanbao’s spokesperson] said…