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The human toll of Myanmar's jade mining industry

Most of the precious stone ends up being sold on China's black market
The human toll of Myanmar's jade mining industry

Rescue workers gather beside a landslide in a jade mining area on the outskirts of Hpakant in Myanmar's northern Kachin state, on May 24. The day before the landslide killed at least 14 people. (Photo by AFP)

Published: June 01, 2016 06:16 AM GMT
Updated: June 01, 2016 11:25 AM GMT

When the wet season begins in Myanmar's northern war-torn Kachin state, jade mining operations come to a grinding halt.

As mining companies call it quits from late May till early October, tens of thousands of workers take their place to scour the rubble for even the smallest nuggets of jade.

It's a dangerous business. Industrial scale mining for jade has left the area bereft of vegetation, which significantly increases the threat of landslides.

Not far from the town of Hpakant a deadly landslide occurred on May 23. More than 14 workers were reported killed and a further 100 remain missing. It was not an isolated incident in an industry known for similar disasters.

A total of 13 landslides have occurred around Hpakant since November, 2015. From that number, a landslide buried 114 itinerant workers searching through mining waste on Nov. 11. Another more recent example was a landslide that killed 13 workers on May 8.

Despite the dangers, itinerant workers are coming to the region's waste heaps in search of jade.

Zaw Lum, a Baptist and miner from Kachin State, is one of them.

"I have encountered a number of landslides and I have even helped recover dead bodies," said Zaw Lum, a father of six who has resided in an internally displaced persons camp in Hpakant since 2013.

Over the past several years, itinerant workers have flooded the area. There were an estimated 20,000 workers in the area in 2012. There were approximately 300,000 in 2015 according to a state media report May 19.

Community concerns

Community activists in Kachin are calling for changes in the industry and have demanded that the new government impose strict rules that are enforced.

In March, 10 civil society groups including the Kachin Nation Social Development Foundation and the Kachin Development Networking Group called for the suspension of all jade-mining projects until rules and regulations are legislated.

They demanded the formation of an independent committee, which would oversee the area's jade mining industry.

Some even want to go a step further.

"Local people want to end large and medium-scale operations completely as it doesn't bring benefit to them," said La Ja, a Catholic community leader in Hpaknt township.

"We want to have small-scale operations only as it will benefit the livelihood of future generations," said La Ja.

Christiana Kai Ra, a community activist from the Kachin Nation Social Development Foundation in Hpakant, said local people are concerned for their safety, as some villages are situated near mining operations.

"Quite frankly, local people want to see an end to large-scale mining completely as they are concerned about the long term affects of heavy machinery and large trucks," Kai Ra, a Catholic who also served as catechist told ucanews.com.

She noted that a lack of safety education programs has put the lives of itinerant workers at risk.

"Miners are only concentrating on searching for jade and are not aware of the risks, as local authorities or any other social organizations fail to educate them," said Kai Rai.

The lawmaker

La Seng, a regional lawmaker for the ruling National League for Democracy party in Hpakant, said the industry needs to be strictly regulated, especially in regards to the use of heavy machinery.

More workers will die if big mining companies fail to adhere to regulations and improper dumping practices, he said.

La Seng, and other Christian lawmakers from the region, believe that handling the jade-mining issue won't be a difficult task for the new government despite the fact that big mining companies are owned by businessmen with links to the former military regime.

"According to the constitution, the president has the highest power and even the three military-appointed ministries of Interior, Border and Defense are part of a civilian government so the government can solve it properly," said La Seng.

The government has recently suspended the issuing of further mining licenses and has said it will bring order to mining operations around Hpakant.

Media reports quote government officials saying local authorities are tightening up on dumping restrictions and they are attempting to move at risk work camps to safer areas.

Myanmar produced U.S. $31 billion worth of jade in 2014, a figure that would equate to 50 percent of the impoverished nation's declared gross domestic product, according an unsubstantiated report by the nongovernmental organization Global Witness in October.

Most of the precious stone ends up being sold on China's black market, while almost all the revenue goes into the pockets of the military elite, the report said.

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