Ann: Bawdwin - A World Class Silver Project Presentation, page-569

In 2015, Australian Brad Jones was in Singapore, wondering if someone was pulling his leg about a CEO job on offer in Myanmar.

It was a fair question. The country was just beginning to emerge from decades of isolation. An almost mystical place, the nation formerly known as Burma tended to cast a life-long spell over the few Westerners who made it in but it was also a crony economy, where pockets of wealth were controlled by a few and the military had their hands in every pie. Was there really, Jones wondered, a reputable investor who believed the economy would be opened up, transformed to one where the rule of law prevailed? Or was it still too early for that type of thing?

Once he had asked around though, Jones was convinced. The Norwegian telco Telenor was prepared to invest alongside Myanmar's Yoma Bank and the Singapore-listed Yoma Group in a new venture, Wave Money. The offer to build a mobile banking business in a country where just 3 per cent of the population owned a SIM card came at a time when Jones was looking for something new. So he signed on. Five years later, he's glad he did.

"It's been like riding a rocket ship," he tells The Australian Financial Review.

Over Wave Money's short history, millions of people in Myanmar have not only taken up mobiles but are also using their phones as digital wallets. Many will never have a debit or credit card. The government is using Wave Money to help distribute handouts to boost consumption amid the pandemic and the company is now in the midst of welcoming a new shareholder on board, the world's most valuable fintech, Ant Financial.

That investment, which coincides with Telenor's exit and values Wave Money around $US150 million ($213 million), has made many sit up and take notice of Myanmar, Jones says. "I speak to a lot of investors in the US, in Asia and in Europe and those who have done their homework on Myanmar are very bullish about it. There are not many markets left like this. There is a lot of economic upside here."

Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi on her way to greet supporters. Despite international criticism, she is still popular at home. AP

Another company counting on that upside is ASX-listed Myanmar Metals, which is planning to reopen the Bawdwin silver mine.

"We have been working to define the resource for three years," says Myanmar Metals' Australian chairman and chief executive, John Lamb. "We started at zero – everyone knew there was ore there but there was nothing official – and we stopped last year when we got to 100 million tonnes of silver, lead and zinc."

Based on the company's estimates, the sheer size of the deposit makes it the largest silver resource in Asia. When Bawdwin is again in production, Myanmar Metals believes it will be the world's third-largest lead producer in the world, in the top 10 for silver and a top 20 zinc mine as well.