With her arms, Lahtaw Kai flies an imaginary pile into the atmosphere, making holes in it with her fingers. The Myanmar environmental campaigner told DW that “at the top of the hills, they drilling holes and then pour chemicals like ammonium nitrate into the floor to remove the rare world minerals at the bottom.” Lahtaw Kai, whose name we’ve changed for safety reasons, was demonstrating the alleged in-situ draining method, which has been used for centuries to mine unique rocks in Myanmar’s north Kachin position. The process begins at the base of the hills, where a network of pipelines introduces chemicals through. Rare earth elements are gathered as the answer descends, which are then gathered in sizable ponds. In-situ evaporation is proving to be a significant danger to both the environment and local people at lots of mining sites in the area. Locations close to the mine sites” regularly smell bad,” said Lahtaw Kai, adding that she and her research team cannot be there for more than 30 hours because it’s difficult to breathe.” The rare world sludge dries out in wood-fired ovens. However, workers there are working without boots and masks. Businesses don’t offer security. But the employees become ill, and the business fires them and employs fresh ones, she continued. Sing Li, a human rights activist based in Chiang Mai, Thailand, has looked into mining websites in the north of Myanmar and claims that the mountains were natural before mine began. The valley turned red as a result of the mountains ‘ turning now are very unattractive. He told DW that some of the chemicals used in the mining lakes are simply dumped into the waterways. On the heels of a new tour of Europe, where they were campaigning for the help of their reason, DW met both Lahtaw Kai and Seng Li. They want to educate Germans about what occurs at the start of global supply chains that eventually lead to products like electronic cars, wind turbines, medical products, and even arms.
Rare earth elements are essential for professional purposes?
According to Julie Klinger, associate professor at the University of Delaware in the United States, the term “rare-earth parts” refers to 17 biologically similar components in the so-called periodic table of elements. These elements have amazing, electromagnetic, and conductive properties, she told DW, and in some cases, they also have thermal properties. Rare earths are also known as the” spice of industry” because they can be used sparingly to improve business processes. For instance, dizziness is a precursor in chemical processing and can be found in the north of Myanmar, according to Klinger. The metallic gold sparkle, which increases battery production and prolongs life, is a crucial component for the transition to clean energy. In addition, dipropyl is used to create permanent magnet that can maintain the constant magnetic field that present power plants and wind turbines require. Global Witness, a non-profit firm, reported in 2024 that Chinese permanent magnet manufacturers are sourcing unique rocks from Myanmar. International car manufacturers Volkswagen, Toyota, Nissan, Ford, Hyundai, as well as wind power companies like Siemens Gamesa and Vestas, are some of the users of China-made rare-earths materials that the document especially names. In another report, Adams Intelligence, a Toronto, Canada-based consulting firm for corporate metals and minerals, discovered that in 2024, Germany was the country’s top customer for permanent magnets.
A telephone for accountable mine
The local mining for rare earth elements has been reduced by China, which has led to more abuse of deposits in Myanmar. According to the Global Witness report, China’s imports of so-called large rare earth elements from Myanmar increased from their past highs of 19,500 plenty in 2021 to 41 loads and 700 tons in 2023. Julie Klinger referred to the US strategy of strategically avoiding mining its domestic uranium deposits to safeguard them for the future, saying,” That’s like a page out of the US playbook from the 20th century.” People in Myanmar don’t want the Chinese to continue mining, according to Lahtaw Kai, who adds,” If the international community wants to continue buying these minerals, they should be responsibly sourced.” Although the civilian-led government of Myanmar had banned exports and ordered Chinese miners to shut down operations in 2018, extraction has continued in the face of a ruthless dictatorship and a growing civil conflict. The majority of the mineral-rich region in the north was seized by the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO ) and its allied military forces in the late 2024 period from forces allied with the central government. Since the 1960s, KIO has been fighting for the region’s independence. Due to this power shift, KIO and Chinese producers are negotiating new taxes on rare earth extraction. The 2024 Global Witness report states that” this largely unregulated mining is environmentally devastating, and the threat it poses to ecosystems and human health is becoming ever more urgent” while the KIO enjoys broad popular support in Kachin and greater legitimacy than government-allied militias.
Will KIO put forth more responsible mining?
More comprehensive safety controls at the operations are a requirement, according to Lahtaw Kai and Seng Li. Civil society organizations and the people have been kept out of the mining policy-making process, according to Seng Li, who suggested that international organizations and governments should work directly with the KIO to improve governance. And even though Seng Li doesn’t believe it can be stopped for rare-earth mining, he said that conditions must be improved so that” not only the armed actors and the Chinese investors benefit” Through” synthetic and regulated processes,” the local populations and the state should” share the benefits.”
