Myanmar to get bigger slice of profits at China-backed copper mine

Myanmar has signed a revised contract that increases its share of the profits from a controversial Chinese-backed copper mine, the country's largest, officials said.

The revision is seen as an attempt by the government to appease public anger over the project by giving the country a bigger share of the profits, after protests last year that triggered a violent police crackdown.

The new terms give the government 51 per cent of the profits from the Letpadaung copper mine in Monywa, 760 kilometres north of Yangon, far more than its original 4 per cent share.

The mine's operators, Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd (UMEHL), which is owned by Myanmar's military, and Myanmar Wanbao, a unit of China North Industries Corporation, a Chinese weapons manufacturer, will get 19 per cent and 30 per cent respectively.

Under the original contract, the UMEHL got 45 per cent and Myanmar Wanbao got 51 per cent of the mine's profits.

Villagers protested for months last year against the project's expansion on what they said was thousands of hectares of illegally seized land.

The protest was a major test of the limits of reforms introduced under President Thein Sein's quasi-civilian government.