Myanmar's mining law delay dims resources attraction

A year ago Myanmar was the hot new destination for resources investors looking to make a fast buck in a country opening up to the outside world, but a new mining law is still not passed, the hot-money crowd has filed out and reality has set in.

Yet while funding options may have slimmed, opportunity is still knocking, said industry participants at a recent conference in Singapore.

"A year ago everyone was going to Myanmar. You couldn't get on a flight there because every flight was booked," said Edward Rochette, the chief executive of Canadian explorer East Asia Minerals Corp, which has applied for an exploration permit in the country.

"Investors were thinking: 'It's wide open, it's the Wild West, we'll just sign and be done'. Unfortunately, it's going to take time," he added.

Explorers have come up against processing times for prospecting permits stretching out several years while commodity prices have fizzled and debt and equity funding markets have dried up. The country has to fight harder to attract capital.

This is dampening government efforts to raise foreign capital in the mining sector and has pushed out processing times for local-foreign joint ventures to gain the right to explore.