NUG selling mining rights for Mogok gem mines

02 February 2023
NUG selling mining rights for Mogok gem mines
Mine workers at the ruby mine site in Mogok, about 200 km north of Mandalay, Mandalay division, Myanmar.

The National Unity Government (NUG) in exile has invited investors both at home and abroad to invest in two gem-mining blocks in Mandalay Region’s Mogok, as part of its fundraising efforts for the ongoing Spring Revolution.

The NUG is offering ten-year mining rights for Bawlongyi mining block No. 1 and Dattaw mining block No. 2. for about $200,000 USD each under a bilateral investment plan, where the investors will own 49% of the blocks and the government will own 51%.

The potential income of the blocks has been estimated at $10 million, but the investors will only be able to start mining on the plots after the Spring Revolution has succeeded.

The NUG Minister of Planning, Finance and Investments, Tin Tun Naing, emphasised that the gem mining sector has previously only benefited a small group of people under past dictatorships, but the NUG will now work in the interest of the people.

He said that the NUG has reportedly raised over $100 million from sales of treasury bonds, real estate owned by coup leader, Min Aung Hlaing and planned apartment blocks seized by the military in major cities.

According to the NUG most of the money raised this way has gone to fund the Spring Revolution.