The news about the US$4.1B foreign investment? It was in the...

The news about the US$4.1B foreign investment? It was in the recent videos and also all over the Myanmar press? But whole heartedly agree the scare tactics around sovereign risk are over blown and IMO a perception of the west.

Mandalay- China rail and highway corridor? Yes, but there is another corridor, down to Yangon. While I appreciate the odds are possibly on the side of concentrate going north, I would not rule out part or all of the concentrate going south. For example, if Trafigura win the off-take deals, they have a port facility in Yangon, fuel distribution networks within Myanmar and smelters that would appreciate the concentrate. Then there is every other major industrial family in Asia, Posco, Misui, Mitsubishi, etc.

City, my understanding, the tax take from the project, including company tax is likely to be around the 50% mark . I do not believe the government wants 50% production share followed by further tax, rather the package will be approximately 50%. Not long to go to find out either way.

Also, with regards conflict etc. It is the main reason that the foreign press focuses upon sovereign risk in Myanmar. Few of the journalists ever research the historical roots of this conflict or the tribal nature of northern sections of Myanmar. It mostly blew up around the time of colonialism ending in South east Asia and the end of world war 2. This link below discusses briefly, the current trajectory on peace talks, centred on the historical arguments about the form of 'federalism' that was/is to apply in Myanmar. https://www.mmtimes.com/news/nca-signatories-myanmar-seek-push-back-talks-august.html

Anyone seriously interested should research historical roots of the federalism agreements in Myanmar in the 1940s. They are slowly making their way forward to a tenable solution IMO and the up coming talks are a further step. Reiterating once again, I have stayed in Lasio (Shan State) and travelled through on a few occasions now. While it makes me no expert I can share that it seemed like any other asian city. Friendly, peaceful and prosperous. There was no obvious evidence of conflict and I enjoyed my experience there.