China-backed militia secures control of new rare earth mines in Myanmar, World News
BANGKOK — A Chinese-backed militia is protecting new rare earth mines in eastern Myanmar, according to four people familiar with the matter, as Beijing moves to secure control of the minerals it is wielding as a bargaining chip in its trade war with Washington.
China has a near-monopoly over the processing of heavy rare earths into magnets that power critical goods like wind turbines, medical devices and electric vehicles. But Beijing is heavily reliant on Myanmar for the rare earth metals and oxides needed to produce them: the war-torn country was the source of nearly half those imports in the first four months of this year, Chinese customs data show.
Beijing's access to fresh stockpiles of minerals like dysprosium and terbium has been throttled recently after a major mining belt in Myanmar's north was taken over by an armed group battling the Southeast Asian country's junta, which Beijing supports.
Now, in the hillsides of Shan state in eastern Myanmar, Chinese miners are opening new deposits for extraction, according to two of the sources, both of whom work at one of the mines. At least 100 people are working day-to-night shifts excavating hillsides and extracting minerals using chemicals, the sources said.
Two other residents of the area said they had witnessed trucks carrying material from the mines, between the towns of Mong Hsat and Mong Yun, toward the Chinese border some 200km away. Reuters identified some of the sites using imagery from commercial satellite providers Planet Labs and Maxar Technologies.
Business records across Myanmar are poorly maintained and challenging to access, and Reuters could not independently identify the ownership of the mines.
The mines operate under the protection of the United Wa State Army (UWSA), according to four sources, two of whom were able to identify the uniforms of the militia members.
The UWSA, which is among the biggest armed groups in Shan state, also controls one of the world's largest tin mines. It has long-standing commercial and military links with China, according to the US Institute of Peace (USIP), a conflict resolution non-profit.
Details of the militia's role and the export route of the rare earths are reported by Reuters for the first time.
University of Manchester lecturer Patrick Meehan, who has closely studied Myanmar's rare earth industry and reviewed satellite imagery of the Shan mines, said the "mid-large size" sites appeared to be the first significant facilities in the country outside the Kachin region in the north.
"There is a whole belt of rare earths that goes down through Kachin, through Shan, parts of Laos," he said.
China's Ministry of Commerce, as well as the UWSA and the junta, did not respond to Reuters' questions.
Access to rare earths is increasingly important to Beijing, which tightened restrictions on its exports of metals and magnets after US President Donald Trump resumed his trade war with China this year.
While China appears to have recently approved more exports and Trump has signalled progress in resolving the dispute, the move has upended global supply chains central to automakers, aerospace manufacturers and semiconductor companies.
The price of terbium oxide has jumped by over 27 per cent across the last six months, Shanghai Metals Market data show. Dysprosium oxide prices have fluctuated sharply, rising around one per cent during the same period. Chinese influence
A prominent circular clearing first appears in the forested hills of Shan state, some 30km away from the Thai border, in April 2023, according to the satellite images reviewed by Reuters.
By February 2025 — shortly after the Kachin mines suspended work — the site housed over a dozen leaching pools, which are ponds typically used to extract heavy rare earths, the images showed.
Six km away, across the Kok river, another forest clearing was captured in satellite imagery from May 2024. Within a year, it had transformed into a facility with 20 leaching pools.
Minerals analyst David Merriman, who reviewed two of the Maxar images for Reuters, said the infrastructure at the Shan mines, as well as observable erosion levels to the topography, indicated that the facilities "have been producing for a little bit already".
At least one of the mines is run by a Chinese company using Chinese-speaking managers, according to the two mine workers and two members of the Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF), an advocacy group that identified the existence of the operations in a May report using satellite imagery.
An office at one of the two sites also had a company logo written in Chinese characters, said one of the workers, who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss sensitive matters.
The use of Chinese operators in the Shan mines and transportation of the output to China mirrors a similar system in Kachin, where entire hillsides stand scarred by leaching pools.
Chinese mining firms can produce heavy rare earth oxides in low-cost and loosely regulated Myanmar seven times cheaper than in other regions with similar deposits, said Neha Mukherjee of London-based Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. "Margins are huge".
Beijing tightly controls the technology that allows for the efficient extraction of heavy rare earths, and she said that it would be difficult to operate a facility in Myanmar without Chinese assistance.
The satellite imagery suggest the Shan mines are smaller than their Kachin counterparts but they are likely to yield the same elements, according to Merriman, who serves as research director at consultancy Project Blue.
"The Shan State deposits will have terbium and dysprosium in them, and they will be the main elements that (the miners) are targeting there," he said. Strategic tool
The UWSA oversees a remote statelet the size of Belgium and, according to US prosecutors, has long prospered from the drug trade.
It has a long-standing ceasefire with the junta but still maintains a force of between 30,000 and 35,000 personnel, equipped with modern weaponry mainly sourced from China, according to Ye Myo-hein, a senior fellow at the Southeast Asia Peace Institute.
"The UWSA functions as a key instrument for China to maintain strategic leverage along the Myanmar-China border and exert influence over other ethnic armed groups," he said.
Some of those fighters are also closely monitoring the mining area, said SHRF member Leng Harn. "People cannot freely go in and out of the area without ID cards issued by UWSA."
Shan state has largely kept out of the protracted civil war, in which an assortment of armed groups are battling the junta. The fighting has also roiled the Kachin mining belt and pushed many Chinese operators to cease work.
China has repeatedly said that it seeks stability in Myanmar, where it has significant investments. Beijing has intervened to halt fighting in some areas near its border.
"The Wa have had now 35 years with no real conflict with the Myanmar military," said USIP's Myanmar country director Jason Towers. "Chinese companies and the Chinese government would see the Wa areas as being more stable than other parts of northern Burma."
The bet on Shan's rare earths deposit could provide more leverage to China amid a global scramble for the critical minerals, said Benchmark's Mukherjee.
"If there's so much disruption happening in Kachin, they would be looking for alternative sources," she said. "They want to keep the control of heavy rare earths in their hands. They use that as a strategic tool."
[[nid:713792]]
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
AsiaOne
34 minutes ago
- AsiaOne
India's watchdog warns Air India for breaching pilots' flight duty timings, Asia News
NEW DELHI — India's aviation watchdog has issued a warning to Air India for "repeated and serious violations" related to pilot duty scheduling and oversight, according to government directives reviewed by Reuters on Saturday (June 21). The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) directed Air India to remove three company executives from crew scheduling roles — a divisional vice president, a chief manager of crew scheduling and one planning executive — for lapses linked to flights from Bengaluru to London on May 16 and May 17 that exceeded the stipulated pilot flight time limit of 10 hours. The June 20 order cited "systemic failures in scheduling protocol and oversights" and criticised the lack of strict disciplinary measures against responsible officials. The latest action by the aviation authority against the airline is unrelated to this month's crash of an Air India Boeing 787-8 plane that killed all but one of the 242 people onboard but signal heightened scrutiny of the airline. On Thursday, Reuters reported the authorities had also warned Air India for breaching safety rules after three of its Airbus planes flew despite being overdue for checks on emergency equipment of escape slides. The latest order by assistant director of operations at the DGCA, Himanshu Srivastava, said: "Of particular concern is the absence of strict disciplinary measures against key officials directly responsible." In a statement to Reuters, Air India said it has implemented the DGCA order and in the interim, the company's chief operations officer will provide direct oversight to the Integrated Operations Control Centre. "Air India is committed to ensuring that there is total adherence to safety protocols and standard practices," it added. The DGCA stated in its order that Air India had voluntarily disclosed the violations. Air India was taken over by the Tata Group in 2022 and faces many challenges in its attempts to rebuild its image, after years of criticism from travellers for poor service. The Indian regulator, like many abroad, often fines airlines for compliance lapses. India's government in February told parliament that authorities had warned or fined airlines in 23 instances for safety violations last year. Around half of them — 12 — involved Air India and Air India Express. The biggest fine was US$127,000 (S$163,000) on Air India for "insufficient oxygen on board" during some international flights. ALSO READ: Air India to cut international flights on widebody aircraft by 15%
CNA
an hour ago
- CNA
US forces bomb Iran nuclear sites, Trump says Fordow gone
WASHINGTON: US forces struck three Iranian nuclear sites in a "very successful attack", President Donald Trump said on Saturday (Jun 21), adding that the crown jewel of Tehran's nuclear program, Fordow, is gone. After days of deliberation, Trump's decision to join Israel's military campaign against its major rival Iran represents a major escalation of the conflict. "All planes are safely on their way home," Trump said in a post on Truth Social, and he congratulated "our great American Warriors." He was due to deliver a televised Oval Office address at 10pm local time (10am Singapore time, Sunday). CBS News reported that the US reached out to Iran diplomatically on Saturday to say the strikes are all the US plans and that regime change efforts are not planned. Trump said US forces struck Iran's three principal nuclear sites: Natanz, Esfahan and Fordow. He told Fox News six bunker buster bombs were dropped on Fordow, while 30 Tomahawk missiles were fired against other nuclear sites. US B-2 bombers were involved in the strikes, a US official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. "A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow," Trump posted. "Fordow is gone." "IRAN MUST NOW AGREE TO END THIS WAR," he added. Reuters had reported earlier on Saturday the movement of the B-2 bombers, which can be equipped to carry massive bombs that experts say would be needed to strike Fordow, which is buried under a mountain. An Iranian official, cited by Tasnim news agency, confirmed that part of the Fordow site was attacked by "enemy airstrikes". Israel's public broadcaster Kan cited an Israeli official saying the country was "in full coordination" with Washington on the US attack. A White House official said Trump spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the strikes. The strikes came as Israel and Iran have been engaged in more than a week of aerial combat that has resulted in deaths and injuries in both countries. Israel launched the attacks on Iran, saying that it wanted to remove any chance of Tehran developing nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only. Diplomatic efforts by Western nations to stop the hostilities have been unsuccessful. In recent days, Democratic lawmakers and some Republicans have argued that Trump must receive permission from the US Congress before committing the US military to any combat against Iran. Israeli military officials said earlier on Saturday that they had completed another series of strikes in southwestern Iran, having targeted dozens of military targets. Israel launched attacks on Jun 13, saying Iran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Israel is widely assumed to possess nuclear weapons, which it neither confirms nor denies. At least 430 people have been killed and 3,500 injured in Iran since Israel began its attacks, Iranian state-run Nour News said, citing the health ministry. In Israel, 24 civilians have been killed by Iranian missile attacks, according to local authorities, in the worst conflict between the longtime enemies. More than 450 Iranian missiles have been fired towards Israel, according to the Israeli prime minister's office.
CNA
2 hours ago
- CNA
Trump says US bombs nuclear sites in Iran
The United States attacked nuclear sites in Iran, President Donald Trump annnounced on Saturday (Jun 21). This comes more than a week after Israel began strikes on Iran. Follow live updates: Iran Israel
