Myanmar: Mandalay trader petitions for mining halt

Myanmar: Mandalay trader petitions for mining halt

Wednesday, 10 August 2016 – A Mandalay trader is circulating a petition calling for an immediate but temporary halt to jade mining and a revamp of export procedures, warning the Mandalay market could be headed for disaster if business continues as usual. The petition will shortly be submitted to a Regional and Union-level officials, with its main backer hoping it can sway the government, even if only a minority of jade traders signs on.

“If they keep mining and exporting the jade as they are now, then within one year, two years, the local market will be finished,” said U Aung Win Oo, a prominent Mandalay jade dealer.

He is the driving force behind the petition, which he said he began after a meeting with government officials shortly after the National League for Democracy took power on April 1. Read More?