Myanmar: Campaigners call on Australian firm to halt sale of mining stake to military-linked company

NAYPYITAW, 18 September 2021, (TON): Campaigners have called on an Australian mining company to cancel the planned sales of its stake in a Shan State silver and zinc mine to a military-linked company with alleged ties to Myanmar’s drug trade.

The Perth-based Myanmar Metals announced last month that it will sell its 51% stake in the Bawdwin mine for $30 million to a company called Win Myint Mo Industries (WMM).

Media reports from 2017 identified WMM as a subsidiary of Asia World, a conglomerate established by the late Kokang druglord Lo Hsing Han and now headed by his son, Steven Law.

Law was subjected to US sanctions for supporting the military and for his own alleged role in the drug trade.

Campaigners from the transparency group Publish What You Pay (PWYP), along with 245 Myanmar civil society groups, submitted a complaint on Wednesday to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) about the sale.

The complaint said WMM “does not have a track record of responsible business nor a public human rights policy. It is highly unlikely that it would follow the OECD Guidelines.”

The intergovernmental group’s guidelines lay down a set of rules for responsible behaviour by corporations, including on human rights. The rules are non-binding on companies but binding for signatory governments, which are required to ensure the guidelines are followed. Australia is an OECD member but Myanmar is not.