Monywa copper project in Myanmar seeks fresh finance

Monywa copper project in Myanmar seeks fresh finance

The Myanmar Ivanhoe Copper Company Ltd, a Myanmar-Canadian joint venture, is seeking fresh finance from Japanese companies for the implementation of the second phase of its huge copper project in Myanmar.

The Monywa copper project in Myanmar's northwestern Sagaing division is the biggest of its kind in the country. The Myanmar Times on Monday quoted the Ivanhoe president as saying that the company will see a total annual production rise to 155,000 tons, based on further development of the Letpaduang deposit, another deposit after Sabetaung and Kyisintaung in Monywa.

The Sabetaung and the Kyisintaung deposits have been yielding 27,500 tons of top-grade copper annually since the first phase of the project began in 1998.

The Ivanhoe, which holds a 50-percent joint venture with a Myanmar state mining enterprise, invested 60 million US dollars in the project with an extra 90 million dollars financed by Japanese corporations including Marubeni and Nissho Iwai in the first phase of the project.

However, in the implementation of the second phase of the project, another factor influencing the task is the availability of very large amount of electric power as it is five times bigger than the first phase and is estimated to require up to 70 megawatts (mw) of the power, according to the president.

Official statistics show that foreign contracted investment in Myanmar's mining sector so far amounted to 522.5 million dollars since the country opened to such investment in late 1988, standing as the fifth largest sectorally.

Source: Xinhua (China) July 29, 2002