February 28, 2024

Myanmar’s illicit rare earth industry grows despite insurgency

topic:	Renewables
located:	Myanmar
editor:	Lital Khaikin

As the world attempts to shift from fossil fuels toward renewable energy, rare earth mining has rapidly expanded in Myanmar. The country is now one of the top ten global producers of rare earth elements - but at what expense?

Amid the past year's escalated armed conflict, in which the Burmese insurgency has intensified an offensive against the military junta, Myanmar's rare earth mining industry has caused not only irreversible environmental damage but threatens to exacerbate internal displacement.

With restricted access to the country, satellite imagery is being used to track rare earth mining in the highlands of northern Kachin state near the border with China's Yunnan province. Global Witness has identified mining operations covering an area around the size of Singapore.

Illegal rare earth mining is responsible for the deforestation of one of the world's most biodiverse rainforests. Pollution from rare earth processing causes irreversible environmental damage with dust, heavy metal pollution and acidic waste from leaching ponds.

Corruption is rampant in the emerging rare earth sector, with the junta extracting bribes from mining companies to continue their operations. Local companies are often fronts for Chinese business owners. Many rare earth mines currently operate in areas controlled by ethnic militias like the New Democratic Army (Border Guard Force) and the Kachin Independence Army.

An AP investigation from 2022 traced Myanmar's illicit rare earths to the supply chains of 78 global companies despite allegations of human rights abuses. As villages across the country continue to live under martial law, Human Rights Watch has reported that nearly half a million people have been newly displaced in Myanmar since fighting in October 2023. Over 121,000 people are known to be displaced in the northern Kachin and Shan states.

Ethnic groups in Myanmar face increasingly complex threats against their self-determination in a country shaped by British colonialism. Myanmar currently recognises eight ethnic groups, including the Kachin, who have protested against expanding rare earth mining on their lands.

Myanmar was not represented at COP28 negotiations as participation of a junta representative would be construed as recognition of the junta. At the same time, the opposing National Unity Government is not recognised as Myanmar's legitimate representation. Individual representatives have instead carried environmental advocacy and engagement on climate policy from Indigenous delegations like the All Burma Indigenous Peoples' Alliance (ABIPA).

With nearly half of the world's mines not being tracked for impacts amid the rare earth mining boom, stringent environmental regulation and accountability within an ethical supply chain system are vital for rare earths sourced from Myanmar.

Image by Gayatri Malhotra.

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