#Canadian Assets Sold To #China Weapons Firm

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DVB By Francis Wade

Assets belonging to Canadian mining giant Ivanhoe Mines may have been transferred to a Chinese weapons manufacturer following its takeover last year of a copper mine in northern Burma, campaigners say.

If validated, the move could be in violation of both US and Canadian sanctions on Burma, said Tin Maung Htoo, executive director of Canadian Friends of Burma (CFOB). The group has closely monitored the takeover of the Monywa copper mine last year by Norinco, one of China’s biggest arms companies that is known to have supplied heavy weaponry to the Burmese army.

Monywa is Burma’s biggest mine, located in the country’s northern Sagaing division. Until February 2007, it had been run by the Myanmar Ivanhoe Copper Company Limited (MICCL), of which Ivanhoe Mines held a 50 percent stake that it claimed was transferred to a body known as The Monywa Trust, a blind trust, after the pull out.

Ivanhoe said in reply to a query from CFOB that it had “disposed” of its 50 percent stake, and that The Monywa Trust was still looking for buyers. It stated that it no longer has any involvement in the project.