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Parliamentary body urges upgrading metal exploration sector
Published on Wednesday, 21 November 2012 21:22
Workers seen at the site of Latpandaung copper mine project (Photo - Hein Min Latt/EMG)
Myanmar will benefit if the government demarcates the specific areas for metal exploration, said Nay Win Tun, chairman of the Mineral and Resources Affairs Committee of the Lower House of the Parliament.
Myanmar possesses 40 kinds of metal resources, which spread across half of the country’s territory, and these natural resources can be found 1,000-feet-deep in the earth, according to the Ministry of Mines, based on its field surveys in 176 out of 325 townships nationwide.
Nay Win Tun said that Myanmar still lacks technologies to purify the metals for global market and meanwhile protect the environment.
Currently there is no specific area designated for metal exploration, and companies need approvals for metal exploration from the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, Ministry of Environmental Conservation and Forestry, and the Ministry of Electricity.
An entrepreneur of metal exploration said, “Metal exploration projects are bound to face protest of farmers as there is no specific area for the projects. A law should be enacted for the benefits of metal projects and the farmers who are possible to lose their lands.”
He also said that Myanmar should export finished metal products.