Mandalay miners sentenced to jail
Ten miners from Mandalay’s Yamethin Township have been sentenced to one and a half years in prison following months of protest against privatisation of the Moehti Moemi gold mines. Protests over the Moehti Moemi mines have been relentless since June 2013, shortly after a private company, Myanmar National Prosperity Co Ltd (NPPCL), reneged on a five-year agreement for joint-venture with local operators. When NPPCL won a government tender for a 6,015-acre site, the company vowed to work with small-scale miners who had been working the mines independently for years.
Locals say that the company neglected the agreement and left them severely disadvantaged among incoming large operators. Making matters worse, a nationwide ban on small-scale mining left thousands of miners abruptly jobless. After being evicted from the mines in 2013, they found refuge in a nearby monastery, which also served as a protest site.
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