Latest news with #ShanState
South China Morning Post
4 days ago
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Thai rivers threatened by Myanmar's unregulated mining boom: ‘don't want to eat the fish'
A sprawling new mine is gouged into the lush rolling hills of northeast Myanmar , where civil war has weakened the government's already feeble writ, and pollution levels are rising downstream in Thailand. Advertisement The complex is one of around a dozen extraction operations that have sprung up in Shan state since around 2022, in territory controlled by the United Wa State Army (UWSA), one of conflict-wracked Myanmar's largest and best-equipped ethnic armed groups. A few kilometres away across the border, locals and officials in Thailand believe toxic waste is washing downstream from the mines into the Kok River, which flows through the kingdom's far north on its way to join the mighty Mekong. Thai authorities say they have detected abnormally high arsenic levels in their waterways, which could pose a risk to aquatic life and people further up the food chain. The price fisherman Sawat Kaewdam gets for his catch has fallen by almost half, because locals fear contamination. 'They say: 'There's arsenic. I don't want to eat that fish,'' he said. Thai fisherman Sawat Kaewdam sorts his fishing net along the banks of the Mekong River in the Golden Triangle region in northern Thailand's Chiang Rai province. Photo: AFP Tests in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai by a government pollution agency found levels of the toxic element as high as 49mcg per litre (0.26 gallon) of river water – nearly five times international drinking water standards.
CNA
6 days ago
- Politics
- CNA
Over 600 evacuated as Myanmar military fights anti-coup forces
Hundreds of Myanmar families were being uprooted from their homes on Saturday, a community organiser said, piling their belongings onto evacuation convoys to escape fighting between the military and anti-coup guerillas. Myanmar has been consumed by a many-sided civil war since the military snatched power in a 2021 coup, leaving more than 3.5 million people displaced, according to UN figures. Heavy combat has been raging since Monday around the village of Saung Nang Khae in the eastern state of Shan, according to locals and evacuation organisers. Ramshackle convoys of tractors were piled with livestock, wheelchairs and suitcases on Friday as they hauled local families to temporary shelter in the village of BC Kone, some 60km southwest. On Saturday, Khun Pyae Linn, the spokesman of the youth wing of the Kayan New Land Party which controls the enclave and which organised evacuation efforts, said 'rescue operations are still ongoing'. 'We evacuated more than 600 people but there were other organisations that helped villagers too. So it could be over 1,500 villagers that were moved to safe shelters,' he added. The military and some of its adversaries had pledged a truce this month as the country recovers from March's devastating magnitude-7.7 earthquake, which killed more than 3,700 people. But Anyne Zel, 24, said she had been forced to flee as artillery and air strikes pounded her home area - the second time she has been forced to evacuate in two years. 'I want to ask them to stop the war. Every time they fight, the victims are us, the civilians,' she said on Friday. 'I don't even think about the future of our lives any more.' After four years of war, Myanmar's military has turned to conscription to bolster its ranks after suffering stinging territorial losses against the myriad of anti-coup fighters and ethnic armed organisations opposing its rule. But analysts say it is still far from defeat, with a superior array of military hardware supplied by its backers China and Russia. Lone Phaw, a 63-year-old farmer, said the onslaught of fighting in Saung Nang Khae was so sudden that he and his wife abandoned their home with only a single piece of clothing each, some blankets, pots and a bag of rice. 'We only had time to run when it happened,' he said. 'We can't guess what our future holds.'
South China Morning Post
14-06-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Over 600 evacuated as Myanmar military fights anti-coup forces
Hundreds of Myanmar families were being uprooted from their homes on Saturday, a community organiser said, piling their belongings onto evacuation convoys to escape fighting between the military and anti-coup guerillas. Myanmar has been consumed by a many-sided civil war since the military snatched power in a 2021 coup, leaving more than 3.5 million people displaced, according to UN figures. Heavy combat has been raging since Monday around the village of Saung Nang Khae in the eastern state of Shan, according to locals and evacuation organisers. Ramshackle convoys of tractors were piled with livestock, wheelchairs and suitcases on Friday as they hauled local families to temporary shelter in the village of BC Kone, some 60 kilometres (40 miles) southwest. On Saturday, Khun Pyae Linn, the spokesman of the youth wing of the Kayan New Land Party which controls the enclave and which organised evacuation efforts, said 'rescue operations are still ongoing'. 'We evacuated more than 600 people but there were other organisations that helped villagers too. So it could be over 1,500 villagers that were moved to safe shelters,' he added.
Yahoo
14-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Chinese-backed militia safeguarding new rare earth mines in Myanmar
A Chinese-backed militia has taken control of new rare earth mines in eastern Myanmar, according to a Reuters report, citing sources. China, which dominates the processing of heavy rare earths, relies on Myanmar for the raw materials needed to manufacture critical components such as wind turbines, medical devices and electric vehicles. Recent disruptions in Myanmar's northern mining belt, which has been taken over by an armed group, have prompted Chinese miners to seek new sources in the Shan state. Under the protection of the United Wa State Army (UWSA), more than 100 workers are engaged in extracting valuable minerals such as dysprosium and terbium. The UWSA, with its commercial and military ties to China, also oversees one of the world's largest tin mines. The presence of this militia provides security for the mining operations, which are strategically located near the Chinese border. Despite the lack of transparent business records in Myanmar, four sources have confirmed the militia's role in protecting the mines, and satellite imagery has corroborated the existence of these mining sites. University of Manchester lecturer Patrick Meehan, an expert on Myanmar's rare earth industry, has noted that these mines represent significant new facilities outside the northern Kachin region, the report said. The stability provided by the UWSA in the Shan state contrasts with the ongoing civil war in other parts of Myanmar, making it an attractive region for Chinese investment and mining activities. Beijing has recognised the strategic significance of rare earth elements, responding to the re-escalation of the trade conflict with the US with stricter export controls on these crucial metals and magnets. Although there has been a slight relaxation in Chinese export approvals and indications from US President Donald Trump of headway in trade negotiations, these restrictions have significantly disrupted international supply networks that are vital to the automotive, aerospace and semiconductor industries. China experienced a surge of 23% in its exports in May compared with April, even as the country enforced export limitations on some essential minerals. The export volume reached 5,864 tonnes, the largest monthly export quantity in the past 12 months. This boost in export levels occurs against the backdrop of worldwide manufacturing challenges, which have been exacerbated by the shortages resulting from China's export controls. "Chinese-backed militia safeguarding new rare earth mines in Myanmar" was originally created and published by Mining Technology, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Japan Times
12-06-2025
- Business
- Japan Times
China-backed militia secures control of new rare earth mines in Myanmar
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 200 kilometers 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 the ownership of the mines could not be independently identified. The mines operate under the protection of the United Wa State Army, 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 the 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 U.S. Institute of Peace, a conflict resolution nonprofit. Details of the militia's role and the export route of the rare earths are reported by Reuters for the first time. A satellite image shows an overview of a West River rare earth mine in Myanmar on May 6. | Maxar Technologies / via REUTERS 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 questions. Access to rare earths is increasingly important to Beijing, which tightened restrictions on its exports of metals and magnets after U.S. President Donald Trump resumed his trade war with China this year. While China appears to have recently approved more exports, and Trump has signaled 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% across the last six months, Shanghai Metals Market data show. Dysprosium oxide prices have fluctuated sharply, rising around 1% during the same period. Chinese influence A prominent circular clearing first appears in the forested hills of Shan state, some 30 km 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 kilometers 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. UWSA soldiers in a tin mine factory at Man Maw at ethnic Wa territory in northeast Myanmar in 2016. | REUTERS 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, 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. A satellite image shows an overview of an East River rare earth mine in Myanmar on Feb. 7. | Maxar Technologies / via REUTERS 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 U.S. 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." The 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."
