Troubled copper mine back on track

The Monywa Copper Mining Project, a section of which is shown here, is a cooperative effort of Chinese and Myanmar enterprises. Of the project's four sections, Letpadaung Mine has the largest resource reserve, accounting for 75 percent of the total.

Ore is smelted at the mine and processed into sheet copper. The wet smelting process used at the mine has great advantages in environmental protection.

Geng Yi, the managing director of the Letpadaung Copper Mine, is cautiously optimistic that one of China's largest investments in Myanmar will "soon be back on track". Months of protests by local farmers and activists had brought operations to a halt.

The project, a joint venture between China's Wanbao Mining and its Myanmar partner, Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd, was launched in March last year. However, operations were suspended at the end of November after local villagers and opposition activists began protesting about controversial land acquisitions and the mine's impact on the local environment.

A "ray of hope" appeared in March when a government inquiry commission, chaired by Myanmar's opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, released the results of its investigation, which found the copper mine to be economically beneficial. The commission said the mine should be allowed to continue operating.

However, the report also said the project needed greater transparency, adding that the locals' concerns about compensation and the environment should be addressed.

"We think it is an objective verdict and reflects the situation in a faithful manner," Geng said. He said Wanbao and its Myanmar partner are making the changes suggested in the report and creating more benefits for the local community.

Wanbao has spent $5 million in compensation for the villagers' land and another $6 million in building new houses for them and relocating their temples.

Geng said Wanbao built small- and medium-sized enterprises to ensure that local farmers had jobs after their land was appropriated and it provided them with systematic training. In addition, at least one member of each relocated family will get the opportunity to work in the copper mine.

In the future, the company should provide more access to improve the project's transparency and have more public consultations, according to Win Myo Thu, an environmentalist who heads the non-governmental organization ECODEV in Yangon.

"I tend to agree that if the project is really beneficial and the environmental problems are manageable, it should continue. But we need more information," said Win Myo Thu.

Chen Defang, president of Wanbao Mining, admitted the company had failed to consult locals enough.

"Local people were not involved in our development plan," he said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.