Dirty secrets behind Myanmar’s rare-earth boom

Lahwa Kai draws an imaginary mountain in the air with her hands and uses its fingers to dot it with holes.Myanmar environmental worker told DW, “At the top of the mountains, they drill hole and then put chemicals such as ammonium nitrates into the ground to extract rare earth minerals below.” Lahwa Kai-J-whose name we have changed for security reasons-was portraying the in-Seitu leaching technique, which has been implemented in mining on rare earth in the northern Kachin state of Myanmar for decades.This process begins at the top of the mountains, where chemicals are injected into the Earth through a network of pipes. As the solution tracks the downslope, it collects rare earth elements, which are then collected in large ponds.At hundreds of mining sites in the region, in-Seitu leaching is proving to be a major risk for both the environment and local villagers.Lahwa Kai said, “The rare earth mud dries up in the wooden bhattas, and the areas close to the mining sites continuously smell bad,” he says that he and his research team cannot stay there for more than 30 minutes because it is difficult to breathe.“But people are working there without gloves and masks. Companies do not provide security. Therefore, workers become ill and then [the company] Fire them and brings them to new workers, “he said.Currently, a human rights activist Seng Lee, a human rights activist located in Chiang Mai, Thailand, has researched the mining sites in the north of Myanmar and says that the mountains were green before the mining started.“Now those mountains are very ugly, the river turned red. Some chemicals that they use in the mining pool are just dumping in water,” they told DW.DW recently met both Lahwa Kai and Seng Lee on the occasion of the tour of Europe, where they were campaigning to support their reason. They want to make Europeans aware at the beginning of global supply chains that eventually give rise to products such as electric vehicles, wind turbines, medical equipment and even weapons.

Rare Earth element important industrial input?

Julie Clinger, assistant professor at the Delaware University in the United States, explains that rare-earth elements refer to 17 chemically similar elements in the so-called periodic table of the word elements.“The thing that separates these elements is their luxurious, magnetic and conductive, and the thermal properties in some cases,” he told DW.It is also called “Spice of Industry”, rare earth can be used relatively to increase industrial processes.For example, dysproosium is used as a catalyst in petrochemical refining, Klinger said, and can be found in the north of Myanmar. The element with a metal silver glow is essential for battery production, increases their heat efficiency and longevity, making it an important component for green energy infection.Disproceium is also used in the production of permanent magnets capable of maintaining the continuous magnetic field required for modern power generators in electric vehicles or wind turbines. Non -profit organization Global Witness reported in 2024 that Chinese producers of permanent magnets are source of rare earth from Myanmar. Customers of China-made rare-earth products are specially nominated by the global auto veteran Woakeswagen, Toyota, Nissan, Ford and Hyundai as well as wind power firms such as Siemens Games and Westas.Another report compiled by Adams Intelligence – Toronto, a consultation for strategic metals and minerals located in Canada – Germany was found to be China’s largest customer for sourcing permanent magnets in 2024.

A call for responsible mining:

China has reduced domestic mining for rare-earth elements, increasing exploitation of deposits in neighboring Myanmar.The global witness report stated that Chinese imports of the so -called heavy rare earth elements from Myanmar in 2021 in 2021 increased to 41,700 tonnes in 2023 from its previous height of 19,500 tonnes.Julie Klinger said, “It is like a page out of the US Playbook since the 20th century,” later referring to the American approach to not mining its domestic uranium deposits to keep them safe.Lahwa Kai says that people in Myanmar do not want Chinese mining to continue, and say: “If the international community wants to continue to buy these minerals, they should be sour responsibly.”According to the global witness, Myanmar’s attractive Earth in 2023 – $ 1.4 billion (€ 1.2 billion) – is at risk of conflict and finance of destruction in a highly unstable region.In 2018, the Myanmar -led government banned exports and ordered to air the operations of Chinese miners, but since 2021, the extraction has continued in terms of widening a cruel dictatorship and civil struggle.In the late 2024, the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and its affiliated military forces controlled most of the mineral-rich areas in the north with the forces affiliated with the central government. Kio has been fighting for the freedom of the region since the 1960s.This power shift has made a new conversation between Kio and Chinese producers on taxing rare earth extraction. While KIO enjoys widespread popular support in Kachin and more validity than government-condensed militia, 2024 global witness reports stated that “on both sides, it is largely irregular mining environmentally destructive, and it is danger that it is becoming more urged for ecosystem and human health.”

Will Kio implement more responsible mining?

Lahwa Kai and Seng Lee demand more public monitoring of safety in operations.“So far, civil society groups and people have been excluded from the process of policy-making on mining […] International organizations and governments must directly engage with Kio to strengthen their rule, “said Seng Lee.And although Seng Lee does not think that rare-earth mining can be prevented, he said “not only armed actors and Chinese investors should not be benefited.” The local population and the state must share benefits through “systematic and regulated processes.”