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"If can't stop this kind of business norm, we are concerned that environmental issues will worsen," he says.įreelance miners use flashlights to search for jade at night, during company off-hours, in Hpakant in 2019.ĭashi La Seng says the actions his office can take are limited, with jurisdiction over environmental regulation of the mining industry held at the national level. Yet companies have found ways to bend the rule of law and avoid following regulations while continuing to mine illegally, according to reports by Global Witness.ĭashi La Seng, Kachin State Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation, is concerned about the companies' destructive mining practices. In 2016, in an attempt to address environmental concerns in the gemstone and mining sector, the government halted the renewal of mining licenses until companies could complete newly introduced Environmental Impact Assessments and submit environmental management plans, including provisions for systematically disposing waste. These days, have dumped so much waste into it that the level increased to the same as villages, and many villages washed away." "Before, the Uru Stream would swell, but it never disturbed anyone. Although the government mandates that companies dispose of mine tailings at least 500 feet from a water source, companies dump tailings along the banks of the Uru Stream, says Lar Tong Sau Bawm, a 70-year-old Hpakant native who serves as deputy chairperson of the Kachin National Social and Development Foundation.Īs a result of sediment buildup in the stream, flooding has worsened year by year since the early 2000s, he says. Water sources, including the main Uru Stream which runs through Hpakant, have been disrupted by sediment buildup. Miners dig for jade on a government-licensed site.įlooding in residential areas is another major issue. The sites fill with rainwater and turn to lakes, which run up against mining waste heaps that are prone to collapse, causing landslides. Companies often exceed government limits on tailing heap height, and heaps can reach several hundred feet, according to Htingnan Ja Naw, the joint deputy secretary of the Kachin National Social and Development Foundation, a group in Hpakant that advocates for land rights and human rights and provides social services for the local community and miners.Ĭompanies also leave behind vast excavated mining pits at the end of their permit periods. The statement is one of many ongoing calls for reform, but change has been slow to come in an industry dominated by Myanmar's military, armed groups and companies linked to former generals, according to 2015 research conducted by Global Witness.Ĭhief among environmental concerns are the height of heaps of mining waste, known as tailings, consisting of discarded earth and stones. It called for the government to immediately suspend large-scale, illegal and dangerous mining in Hpakant, and ensure companies abusing environmental and safety standards are no longer able to operate. In response to the July landslide, the environmental watchdog group Global Witness issued a statement condemning the government's failure to curb life-threatening mining practices in Kachin State. This tragedy is just one of the many deadly environmental disasters that have happened in the jade-rich township after two decades of intensive mining. It killed nearly 200 people, mostly freelance miners searching for jade stones while companies had ceased operations for the rainy season.
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The side of a mining site collapsed, sending a torrent of mud and rainwater into the mining valley below. This year, on July 2, a landslide underscored residents' concerns. Rivers, streams and creeks are upside-down, shifted into chaos." Mountains became valleys and valleys became mountains. "Now don't even know what n-hypa law is," she says - they don't see that oyster in the stream anymore. The Uru Stream was clean and clear, and people harvested a freshwater oyster - called n-hypa law in the local Jinghpaw language - in its waters. Lahtaw Kai Ring, a former jade miner and a mother of six, recalls what the area was like when she first moved to the township in 1989. But they are a symbol of tragedy and suffering for the people who live and work in the country's mines in Hpakant, in Myanmar's northernmost Kachin State. The jade gemstones that generate billions of dollars a year in Myanmar - the world's biggest exporter of the stone - are beloved in China, where they can sell for more than gold. Freelance miners dig for raw jade at a company site in Hpakant, Myanmar, in 2018.