Business as usual in Myanmar due to lack of Australian sanctions

Dozens of Australian-linked mining companies, executives and shareholders continue to operate in junta-controlled Myanmar, even as US government issues fresh warnings.

Members of the ethnic rebel group Ta'ang National Liberation Army take part in a training exercise at their base camp in the forest in Myanmar's northern Shan state. Picture: AFP

Dozens of Australian-linked mining companies, investors and executives continue to operate in Myanmar’s military-dominated resources sector because the federal government refuses to impose sanctions on a key source of revenue for the junta and its war against its own people, a new report has warned.

The 151 page Mines Against Humanity by Justice for Myanmar has highlighted the extent of direct and indirect Australian involvement in the Myanmar resources sector three years on from the February 1, 2021 coup that ousted the democratic government and imposed a brutal military regime.

It lists dozens of companies and subsidiaries including ASX-listed ALS, Access Asia Mining, Valentis and Cornerstone Resources, which has numerous interests in Myanmar including a joint venture mine with the US and EU-sanctioned state-owned Mining Enterprise 1.

The report coincides with a new US government alert specifically warning businesses against involvement in Myanmar’s base metals, gold and rare earths sectors because of its close links to the military.

Attempted coup leader Min Aung Hlaing, left, along with his appointed ministers Aung Zaw Aye and Aung Naing Oo attending a mining exhibition in Shan State in 2023 where Cornerstone is an exhibitor. Picture: Facebook

“The economic sectors listed above generate revenue for the military, often operating like state monopolies or monopoly-like concessions, and/or are linked with corruption and human rights or labour rights abuses,” the Office of the US Trade Representative said at the weekend.

Conducting any business with Myanmar’s resources sector involved “reputational, economic and legal risks” as well as the “risk of money laundering, corruption and human rights and labour rights abuses, including forced labour,” it added.

The Australian government’s Austrade ‘Doing Business in Myanmar’ website offers advice on removing shoes before entering offices and showing respect to elders.

While the US, Canada, UK and Europe have recently sanctioned Myanmar state-owned mining enterprises and crony-controlled resources companies, Australia has imposed sanctions and travel bans only on 16 military officials and two military conglomerates since the 2021 coup _ compared with more than 300 on Russia.

A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman told The Australian; “All Australian businesses operating internationally have a responsibility to respect human rights in their business operations and supply chains.

“Australia does not promote Myanmar as a market for new entrants and continues to remind any existing investors of their obligations under Australian law.”

The government strongly condemned the ongoing repression and violence by the Myanmar regime, though would not speculate on further possible sanctions, he added.

But Justice for Myanmar has urged the federal government to address the current loopholes, warning the lack of specific sanctions against Myanmar’s military-controlled resources sector — and lack of warnings against doing business there — is akin to a green light for those Australians prepared to continue “business as usual with an illegal junta committing war crimes and crimes against humanity”.

“Australians are continuing to work across the Myanmar junta-controlled minerals supply chain with little apparent regard for the extreme human rights, corruption and political risks,” JFM spokeswoman Yadanar Maung said.

She cited as an example Access Resources Asia’s involvement in “socially and environmentally destructive gold exploration with the junta, enabled by testing services from ALS and corporate services from (Australian-owned legal firm) Mission Legal”.

“Such interdependent relationships show exactly why Australia needs to impose sanctions to block support to the junta from Australian-owned and led businesses across the Myanmar mining sector.”

Access Resources Asia, a subsidiary of Access Asia Mining which is 34 per cent-owned by a group of experienced Australian mining industry figures, holds gold exploration licenses over 14,000 acres in conflict-racked Shan state.

While exploration activity generates minimal revenue for the junta, critics say any involvement in Myanmar’s mining industry enables a sector that remains critical to the junta.

The Australian sought comment from ARA director Mark Livingston, a Myanmar-based Australian lawyer who provides corporate services for Australian miners operating there through Mission Legal, but he did not respond to emails or phone messages.

A spokesman for ALS, a lab services company operating in Myanmar, said it took seriously its obligations to comply with regulatory sanctions and, through its own due diligence process, could “confirm no clients of our Myanmar operating company or ALS Limited are subject to regulatory sanctions”.

Michael Phin, a spokesman for Valentis Asia, told The Australian the exploration company earned no revenue from mining extraction, had “already exited Myanmar” and severed links to the Myanmar Valentis group — whose sole director La Min Win appears to have stepped down from his co-directorship of Valentis Asia (now SEA Group) last Thursday.

Clancy Moore, Transparency International’s Australia chief executive, said the federal government’s “lack of sanctions and poor business advice means the door is wide open for Australian mining interests to do business with the corrupt and blood thirsty regime”.

He urged the government to send a clear message to Australian mining companies and investors not to do business in Myanmar by imposing sanctions on Myanmar’s State-Owned Mining Enterprises 1 and 2, as key allies had done.