Gems - mining and trade
Websites/Multiple Documents
Date of entry/update:
2004-01-29
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
Gems, Gems - mining and trade
Language:
English
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Sub-title:
At least 174 'unwashed' are killed as landslides and heavy rains entomb them in country's worst-ever mine disaster
Description:
"or the “unwashed” as the jade miners of northern Myanmar are known – arrived early Thursday at the pit to scrape out a living on a scraggy hillside, lured by the prospect of finding a stone that could transform their lives.
But only three would return, the others victims of Myanmar’s worst-ever mine disaster after a landslide in heavy rains entombed at least 174 people, with scores more feared missing.
Sai Ko, 22, survived the spin-dryer of rock and heavy sludge by clinging to the corpse of a fellow miner, and battling to land.
His friend Zaw Lwin, 29, and his younger brother San Lwin were miraculously spat out from the churning torrent and delivered naked onto the shore, their clothes ripped off by the deluge.
But two of the crew didn’t make it. Than Niang was cremated on Saturday, while Thet Shin is missing presumed dead, one of scores of victims still unaccounted for from the accident at the Hwekha mine, in northern Kachin State.
“We have many dreams of helping our families,” a shaken Sai Ko told AFP. “But it’s not worth it. I will never go back.”
The hillside which buried his friends harbors jadeite, a stone which goes for a fortune over the Kachin border in China in a multi-billion dollar industry dominated by firms linked to Myanmar’s military.
But for the poor migrants from across Myanmar who travel hundreds of miles to prospect in Hpakant, big paydays are few and far between..."
Source/publisher:
"Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
Date of entry/update:
2020-07-07
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Sub-title:
Rescue operations continue for a fourth day in the country's worst ever jade mine landslide, as more bodies are buried.
Description:
"Aye Mon, 30, is left alone with a two-year-old daughter after her husband and younger brother died in Myanmar's worst jade mine landslide that killed more than 170 people on Thursday.
In hopes of finding gems that might transform his future, her brother, Shwe Moe Tun, 22, had travelled more than 600km (370 miles) from his village in Monywa to Hpakant area of Kachin state in northern Myanmar, home to a secretive billion-dollar jade industry. "My husband had been working in the jade mining business for more than 10 years. But it was the first time for my brother. It was his second working day in the mine," Aye Mon told Al Jazeera.
At least 40 jade pickers killed in the disaster at Wai Khar mine were buried on Saturday, the country's fire services department said on their Facebook page, while 77 others were interred in a mass grave on Friday.
Many more were cremated according to Buddhist traditions. Rescue operations were still ongoing for the fourth day on Sunday as bodies of the victims were still being recovered from the site of the accident..."
Source/publisher:
"Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of entry/update:
2020-07-06
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Individual Documents
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Description:
"A massive landslide in Northern Myanmar has left more than 120 miners dead, when heavy rainstorm created a mud wave that buried workers in a jade mine. Authorities expect the death toll to be rise as many more victims are recovered..."
Source/publisher:
"FRANCE 24 English"
Date of entry/update:
2020-07-04
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Sub-title:
The miners were 'smothered by a wave of mud' caused by heavy rain, officials say.
Description:
"A landslide at a jade mine in northern Myanmar has killed at least 113 people, officials say, warning the death toll is likely to rise further.
The incident took place early on Thursday in the jade-rich Hpakant area of Kachin state after a bout of heavy rainfall, the Myanmar Fire Services Department said on Facebook.
"The jade miners were smothered by a wave of mud," the statement said. "A total of 113 bodies have been found so far," it added, raising the death toll from at least 50.
Photos posted on the Facebook page showed a search and rescue team wading through a valley apparently flooded by the mudslide..."
Source/publisher:
"Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of entry/update:
2020-07-02
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Individual Documents
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Description:
"C aterpillar Inc, Komatsu Ltd and Volvo AB - leading providers of machinery to Myanmar’s jade mines - have done little to address warnings about rampant abuses in the multibillion-dollar industry they supply, a Swedish charity said on Wednesday.
Stockholm-based Swedwatch, which focuses on business activities in developing countries, said the three firms still dominate the machinery market in Hpakant, a mining township in the restive Kachin state that supplies 90% of the world’s jade.
Myanmar’s poorly regulated jade mines help finance a long-running conflict between the army and armed ethnic groups, and the report said the industry contributed to land degradation, water pollution and landslides that kill hundreds of people each year.
“The global mining machinery companies’ seemingly blatant lack of safeguards in response to this context is a matter of serious urgency,” Swedwatch said in a report.
It said U.S. machine maker Caterpillar and Japan’s Komatsu “still have not attempted to identify the negative human rights impacts related to their products in Myanmar”.
Volvo did engage human rights consultants to conduct due diligence following an initial report by the charity in 2018. The Swedish company said the probe had absolved it of any responsibility.
“As a machinery provider, we do not believe we are responsible for human rights violations ... where our products are not directly responsible for the harm caused,” spokeswoman Anna Abenius told the Thomson Reuters Foundation..."
Source/publisher:
"Reuters" (UK)
Date of entry/update:
2020-06-10
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"Myanmar earned over 59.4 billion kyats (39.6 million U.S. dollars) from a gems and jade sale event which was concluded on Tuesday, an official of Myanma Gems Enterprise (MGE) told media.
The gems and jade sale event, kicked off in capital city Nay Pyi Taw on Jan. 2, was organized by the Myanma Gems Enterprise (MGE) under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation.
A total of 3,491 jade lots and nine gem lots were sold at the event, with 2,023 merchants in attendance, said General Manager Thet Khaing.
All 25 state-owned jade lots were sold out at the event and fetched about 450 million kyats (300,000 U.S. dollars), he added.
The last gems and jade sale, which was held in June 2019, fetched 60.89 billion kyats (40.6 million U.S. dollars) from the sale of 49 gems lots and 3,011 jade lots, with 2,010 local merchants in attendance..."
Source/publisher:
"Xinhua" (China)
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-08
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Sales at the recent jade expo in Mandalay city totalled over K30 billion (US$19.72 million), according to U Kyaw Zaw Aung, chair of the event’s organising committee.
Description:
"The weeklong expo, which concluded October 29 at the Mandalay Convention Centre, included sales of raw and finished jade and gemstones.
“We sold more than 1800 jade lots and earned more than K30 billion,” he said. “We thank all those who displayed their gems at the event and jade and gems merchants.”
U Kyaw Zaw Aung said that more revenue than expected was generated by the event, considering the country’s economic difficulties.
He said the organisers were encouraged by the results and would continue to hold such events.
Over 2890 jade lots were offered for sale at the exhibition. Jade sellers had to pay 11 percent in jewellery taxes, and buyers paid 5pc in commercial taxes.
More than 6500 local and 500 foreign gem traders attended the exhibition. Admission was K20,000 for locals, and K100,000 for foreigners. Foreigners were not allowed to buy raw jade lots, but were able to buy finished gems..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2019-11-05
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Gems - mining and trade, Gems
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"SMALL concession holders in the world renowned "valley of rubies" in Mogok, Mandalay recently protested against unfair allocation of mines by the Myanmar government.
Some 300 miners marched in the Kyat Pyin town urging fair allocation of gemstone mines, particularly to small block holders who are claiming discrimination as they are bound to be given unproductive mines according to The Myanmar Times.
Gemstone miner U Zaw Win who led the protest said there is a need to put a better system of allocation to small block concession holders.
"We are allocated places in remote areas, where there is little vacant land and no gems. There will be repercussions if Mogok locals are only assigned areas of little value,” he said.
The concessions for small block holders stretches on an area measuring about 33,000 hectares in three zones while for medium scale holders, 6,500ha has been allocated, also in three zones.
“The small block holder zones are far from town where there are no gems. They are very hard to excavate,” U Zaw Win said.
He also claimed some of the concessions assigned to small miners in the border areas of Mandalay and Shan State are blocks that are avoided by locals like him because of problems like malaria.
Sein Lan Mogok Environmental Conservation group secretary U Ye Aung said such mine operations was unproductive because miners would not be able to send daily wage earners to such remote locations.
The Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation ministry recently set up a regional gem block allocation and screening group to allocate an acre of land for gem mining to local residents. Each concession is good for one year..."
Source/publisher:
"New Straits Times" (Malaysia)
Date of entry/update:
2019-11-05
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Gems - mining and trade
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Sub-title:
Mud filter collapsed at Hpakant in Kachin State, causing landslide that hit miners’ sleeping quarters
Description:
"At least 54 jade miners in Myanmar are feared to have died after they were engulfed by a landslide “mud lake” as they slept.
In one of the worst disasters to hit Myanmar’s notoriously treacherous jade mining industry, a mud filter collapsed at a mine in Hpakant in Myanmar’s Kachin State on late Monday night, causing a landslide that hit the miners’ sleeping quarters. It buried the sleeping men and 40 pieces of heavy machinery.
On Tuesday morning, a rescue operation began at the mine, which is about 30m deep. However, none of the 54 miners, most of whom were migrant workers, are thought to have survived the incident and, by Wednesday, only three bodies had been retrieved from the mud.
“They won’t survive. It is not possible because they are buried under mud,” Tin Soe, a local official, told Reuters. The two companies operating the mine were named as Shwe Nagar Koe Kaung and Myanmar Thura.
Myanmar’s shadowy jade industry, which is highly unregulated and controlled by the military and private conglomerates, has long been condemned for prioritising profit over safety, and dozens die every year in deadly landslides, particularly when monsoon season hits. Last year dozens of miners died in a landslide at another jade mine in Hpakant and statistics from 2017 showed almost 80 officially recorded deaths, though the unofficial toll is assumed to be higher.
A Global Witness report from 2014 put the value of jade production in Myanmar at about $31bn, nearly half of Myanmar’s GDP that year. However, little of the profits trickle down into the country and most of the jade is sold or smuggled into China, where the stone is in high demand..."
Source/publisher:
"The Guardian" (UK)
Date of entry/update:
2019-11-03
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Sub-title:
Burrowing deep underground, thousands of informal miners risk their lives to find gleaming red gems as a law change spurs opportunity in Myanmar’s “land of rubies”.
Description:
"Miners arriving with equipment on motorcycles at a ruby mining site in Mogok, north of Mandalay...Miners working in a ruby mine in Mogok, north of Mandalay...Miners panning for rubies and other gemstones in a ruby mine in Mogok, north of Mandalay...A miner entering a tunnel in a ruby mine in Mogok, north of Mandalay..."
Source/publisher:
"The Guardian" (UK)
Date of entry/update:
2019-11-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Gems - mining and trade
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Description:
"As if human rights abuses, corruption charges and deadly landslides haven’t hurt the industry enough, Myanmar’s multi-billion-dollar jade and gemstone industry now has to deal with the challenges of e-commerce.
Myanmar produces 90 percent of the world’s jade and is a major player in the global gem economy, but poor regulations mean up to two-third of the country’s production is possibly not subjected to tax according to a report by the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) in March.
The increasingly affluent China is the biggest market for Myanmar’s jade, and Radio Free Asia has reported how the highly valuable stone is often smuggled untaxed across porous borders to Chinese buyers – and the direct sale of jade online may now make up about 80 percent of all purchases, bypassing Myanmar’s tax collectors..."
Source/publisher:
"The ASEAN Post"
Date of entry/update:
2019-10-20
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Gems - mining and trade, Gems, Burma's economic relations with China, Border Trade with China, China-Burma relations
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Description:
"Myanmar’s poorly regulated Jade and Gemstones production means up to two-thirds of all the country produces is possibly not subjected to tax, a new report by the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) reveals. Experts believe that this, as well as chronic undervaluing of registered jade and gemstones, costs the country billions of dollars in lost tax revenue.
Myanmar produces 90 percent of the world’s jade and is a leading producer of rubies, sapphires, and other varieties of coloured gemstones. China is the largest beneficiary of this trade, with untold amounts of jade and gemstones being imported and smuggled across the border to meet the demand of its growing elite.
Myanmar, a former British colony, was under military rule from 1962 to 2011, during which time it was increasingly internationally isolated and became one of the world’s most impoverished countries. Military rule was dissolved in 2011 and since then, the country has engaged in a turbulent liberalisation process. Its GDP has grown steadily over the past several years, reaching an all-time high of $69.32 billion in 2017.
Despite significant growth, 32 percent of Myanmar’s citizens still live in poverty and the nation’s infrastructure is ranked 146th out of 148 countries in the world. This is in large part because Myanmar does not collect enough tax. A recent report by the Asia Foundation revealed that Myanmar’s tax receipts for 2016-17 were only 6 to 7 percent of its GDP, the lowest among all ASEAN nations..."
Source/publisher:
"Belt & Road News" (China)
Date of entry/update:
2019-09-26
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Gems, Gems - mining and trade, Burma's economic relations with China, China-Burma relations
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Description:
"The world’s biggest jade mines are found in the restive Kachin state in Myanmar.
BBC Burmese gained rare access to area where mountains have been turned into moonscapes.
The industry has been estimated to be valued at a staggering $31bn (£25bn) annually.
Hundreds of thousands of people have flocked to the area to scavenger among the rubble left over from the mine – hoping to get find fragments of the stone.
It’s a dangerous job and heroin addiction among the miners and scavengers is epidemic..."
Source/publisher:
"BBC"
Date of entry/update:
2019-09-13
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Gems - mining and trade, Minerals and Mining - Burma (general articles and analyses), Karen (Kayin) State
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Summary:
"The Hpakant jade mining pits in Kachin state are one of Myanmar’s key natural assets. Around 300,000 migrant labourers extract US$31 billion of the precious stones annually. This is nearly half of...
Sub-title:
Year after year, landslides in Myanmar’s jade mines kill hundreds of workers. Authorities place profits ahead of human lives.
Description:
"The Hpakant jade mining pits in Kachin state are one of Myanmar’s key natural assets. Around 300,000 migrant labourers extract US$31 billion of the precious stones annually. This is nearly half of Myanmar’s gross domestic product (GDP). The jade mines are also known for tragedy. About 807 deaths were reported in Myanmar’s jade mines between 2015 and 2018. Without the resources or means to extract the bodies, victims’ remains are rarely found, buried under deep layers of mud.
In April 2019, the latest tragedy occurred in Hpakant. It claimed at least 54 lives overnight. An abandoned mining pit, containing wastewater and discarded mining materials, collapsed. As it buckled, it dumped mud on the miners working below. Myanmar Gems Enterprise (MGE) investigated the incident and attributed the disaster to the instability of the earth.Hpakant’s terrain is extremely unstable. The various mining companies dump earth without any thought for risks present. To maximise space, mines are narrow and deep. These unstable structures make them a ticking time bomb for landslides. The landscape is also littered with abandoned mines, adding to its geological instability.
Since the adoption of large machinery in the mining process, environmental destruction is occurring at a faster rate. The upcoming monsoon rains from May until October will likely trigger more mudslides, causing more deaths...."
Source/publisher:
"ASEAN Today"
Date of entry/update:
2019-09-08
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Kachin State, Gems - mining and trade
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Description:
"A mudslide buried 54 miners last month at a jade mine in Hpakant in northern Myanmar’s Kachin state. Mines in Hpakant produce some of the finest jade in the world..."
Source/publisher:
"Radio Free Asia"
Date of entry/update:
2019-08-15
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Gems - mining and trade
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Description:
"The jade trade between Myanmar and China is worth an estimated US$30 billion a year - about half of Myanmar’s GDP. But jade mining is a bloodstained business built on drug addiction, slave labour and massive environmental destruction. Who should be responsible for the dark side of jade?.."
Source/publisher:
CNA Insider
Date of entry/update:
2019-08-07
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Gems - mining and trade, Burma's economic relations with China, Gems, The impact of natural disasters on the environment and people of Burma/Myanmar
Language:
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Sub-title:
The jade hub of Hpakant, in Kachin State in the north of the north of the country, is frequently hit by deadly accidents, despite government pledges to clean up the lucrative mining industry.
Description:
"The jade hub of Hpakant, in Kachin State in the north of the country, is frequently hit by deadly accidents, despite government pledges to clean up the lucrative mining industry.
In April, 55 mining company employees were killed when a pond up a slope from where they were digging breached its banks, leading authorities to suspended 17 mining blocks over safety concerns.
The police chief in the area, Than Win Aung, told Reuters from the accident site that 14 bodies had been recovered and four people, two of them policeman who were guarding the mining site, were missing and feared dead.
"We were able to rescue two members of the police who only injured their heads, and sent them to hospital," he said.
One policeman was confirmed dead, he said.
The government has ordered all mining activity in Hpakant to cease during Myanmar's May-October monsoon season, but people in the area say scavengers still scour tailing piles for jade.
"The companies aren't operating because of the water," said Than Win Aung. "Security people are on duty in order to prevent landslides due to illegal mining."
Yau Dau, 25, who lives next to the mining site, said the landslide happened after midnight..."
Source/publisher:
TRT World via "AFP"
Date of entry/update:
2019-07-29
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
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Gems - mining and trade
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Description:
"An elderly Kachin man wearing a white collared shirt and traditional checkered longyi stands alone, staring over the edge of a precipice. He is dwarfed by the ravaged landscape of Maw Wan Lay, a jade mining area north of Hpakant, in central Kachin State about 180 kilometres west of Myitkyina.
On the ground beside him is a shrine: red roses, white chrysanthemums and a photograph of his son, delicately arranged on top of a mound of stones.
Three photographs of the bereaved father’s tribute were uploaded to Facebook by his daughter, Ma Lu Lamung, on April 26. “Who would have understood the agony of a father whose only son perished. Not even a dead body to grieve over,” she wrote in her post.
“My father kept looking down in tears to see whether he would get a glimpse of the body.”
Her brother was buried alive four days earlier while working the night shift at a jade mine operated by Shwe Nagar Koe Kaung Company.
Looming above him as he worked was an informal tailings dam in a disused mine formerly operated by Unity Gems Company. After Unity’s licence expired in October 2017, the open-cut site filled with water; after 18 months of illegal waste dumping by other miners, it was a lake of thick, unstable mud that covered at least three acres (1.2 hectares) and was 100 feet (30 metres) deep.
“It was like an infinity pool over the miners’ heads,” U Maw Htun Aung, Myanmar country manager for the Natural Resource Governance Institute, told Frontier at his office in Yangon. “At the same time the miners did not stop digging and using dynamite to blast the rock apart,” he said. “They were basically living under a time bomb.”
At about 11.30pm on April 22, the thin earthen wall that contained the dam collapsed, releasing a torrent of mud that surged into the open-cut mine below, submerging the workers.
The next day, the Ministry of Information announced that 28 employees of Myanmar Thura Gems Company and 26 miners who worked for Shwe Nagar Koe Kaung Gems (Nine Golden Dragons) Company had been buried under the mud, along with 40 pieces of machinery owned by the two companies.
What the report elided was that Myanmar Thura did not have a permit to mine in the blocks affected by the dam’s collapse. Nor did the other two companies that were reportedly extracting jade in the same area: Chaow Brothers Gemstone Enterprise, also known as Chaung Brothers, and KNDPC, or Kachin National Development and Progress Company.
A Frontier investigation has found that this tragic accident at Hpakant was preventable and the result of a lack of political will and long-standing policy failures that have, if anything, worsened under the National League for Democracy government.
The legal framework for jade mining is completely unsuitable for the nature of the business and has worsened under a newly introduced Gemstone Law. The companies were able to operate at the site without permits due to a lack of enforcement. The government has failed to ensure companies follow environmental and safety rules, and has stalled on planned reforms in these areas. The companies themselves were unwilling to acknowledge and act on the risks of mining so close to the dam.
Deadly landslides are common in Hpakant. They are typically caused by the partial collapse of designated tailings heaps, where itinerant miners known as yemase are permitted to forage for pieces of jade among the crushed rock discarded by mining companies.
The collapse of the tailings dams represents a new danger, though. Maw Htun Aung said at least 20 similar dams have formed in Hpakant at abandoned mines since the government imposed a moratorium on renewing jade permits in April 2016, pending a review of mining laws.
Some of these are dangerously close to villages, he said, and Hpakant residents have been warning the government of the dangers for some time..."
Clare Hammond, Ye Mon
Source/publisher:
Frontier Myanmar
Date of publication:
2019-06-03
Date of entry/update:
2019-06-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Gems - mining and trade
Language:
English
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Description:
"Gold is valuable but jade is priceless, so goes a Chinese saying. For centuries, the Chinese consider jade an imperial stone with mystical properties. Today it is coveted all over China as a status symbol, a collectible and an investment.
Demand from increasingly wealthy Chinese drives the value of jade through the roof. At this year?s Shanghai World Jewellery Expo, auctioneers put the opening bid for top grade jade items at more than $160 a gram, exceeding four times the price of gold.
Intricately designed pieces, made from top grade jade known as jadeite, are viewed as attractive investments despite the lack of scientific valuation methods. In recent years, jadeite has provided better returns than real estate.
But the imperial stone delivers a death sentence to treasure hunters in Myanmar, where China?s jadeite comes from.
Most of Myanmar?s raw jade enters a murky black market. Its official revenue from jade exports over from 2011 to 2014 was $1.3bn. But Harvard University?s Ash Center estimates total jade sales - including through unofficial channels - were $8bn in 2011 alone, suggesting most of the revenue does not go into government coffers.
The Myanmar government will not speak to us on camera. But our investigations reveal a corrupt senior government official who works with businessmen in the illegal trade of raw jade, including helping to falsify tax documents.
In northern Kachin state, we follow jade smugglers to the remote Hpakant mining town, the source of the world?s best jade. The men are part of the government?s border guard force. The officer in charge tells us how he pays off army and police commanders along the smuggling trail to China.
Hpakant is out of bounds to foreigners and no foreign journalists have been known to make it there for years. Large mining companies suspended operations here in 2012 after the Kachin Independence Army and the Myanmar government went to war the preceding year, ending a 17-year ceasefire. With peace talks stalling, most companies have yet to resume excavation.
Despite the tension, tens of thousands of small time jade pickers have flooded Hpakant to sift through mine tailings, risking life and limb to toil in harsh conditions, hoping to strike jackpot. Some work alone, others in groups supported by businessmen. Their findings often go straight into the black market, forming the unregulated bedrock of the industry today."
A dark force fuels their labour. Jade picker Aik San estimates 75 percent of the miners have become drug addicts. They get their daily dose of heroin or yama - a type of methamphetamine - from drug dens around town. It numbs them from their backbreaking labour and helps them work longer hours in the harsh weather. With hidden cameras, we obtain shocking footage from the drug dens, revealing the scale of drug abuse that infests the underbelly of the jade trade. We also find a drug rehabilitation centre in Kachin state with more than 50 recovering addicts from the mining town. One of them, Aung Kyaw Moe, painfully shares how his employer paid him and fellow workers with heroin to get them hooked so they would work harder for their next dose.
As the hammer goes down in major Chinese cities for more glitzy jade items auctioned off at record levels, wealthy collectors celebrate yet another treasure possessed. It offers stark contrast to the wretched lives of mine pickers at the bottom of the supply chain, in a land far away..."
Source/publisher:
Aljazeera (101 East)
Date of publication:
2014-12-02
Date of entry/update:
2018-07-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
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Gems - mining and trade
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Description:
How a narcotics kingpin and his associates used opaque
company structures to take a dominant role in Myanmar?s
most valuable natural resource business.....SUMMARY: "Myanmar?s jade business may be
the biggest natural resource heist in
modern history. The sums of money
involved are almost incomprehensibly
high and the levels of accountability
are at rock bottom. One of the most
dominant and dangerous groups
involved is a collection of companies
controlled by Myanmar?s most
famous drug lord, Wei Hsueh Kang.
This report shows how Wei Hsueh
Kang and his associates, following
the template of terrorists, kleptocrats
and mafia the world over, have used
a web of opaque company structures
to build, and disguise, a jade empire.
..."
Source/publisher:
Global Witness
Date of publication:
2015-12-03
Date of entry/update:
2015-12-06
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Gems - mining and trade
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
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1.58 MB
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Description:
"...Myanmar?s jade industry may well be the biggest natural resource heist in
modern history. The sums of money involved are almost incomprehensibly
high and the level of accountability is at rock bottom. As long as the ghosts
of the military junta are allowed to dominate a business worth equivalent to
almost half the country?s GDP, it is difficult to envisage an end to the conflict
in Kachin State. Lessons from other nations afflicted by the resource curse,
as well as Myanmar?s own history, suggest that the threats to the country?s
wider political and economic stability are also very real...Since 2011, Myanmar?s rebranded
government has told the world it is
transitioning from a pariah state run
by a ruthless military dictatorship
to a civilian regime committed to
wholesale political and economic
reforms.
In important respects, there has been real
change. Oft-cited examples include the release of
Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners,
and the government?s peace talks with ethnic
armed groups. But in other critical areas, the
reformist narrative bears little scrutiny. Nowhere
is this truer than in the jade sector.
Drawing on over a year of investigations, this
report shows for the first time how a multi-billion
dollar trade in one of the planet?s most precious
gemstones is tightly controlled by the same military
elites, US-sanctioned drug lords and crony
companies that the government says it is consigning
to the past. Companies owned by the family of
former dictator Than Shwe and other notorious
figures are creaming off vast profits from the
country?s most valuable natural resource, and the
world?s finest supply of a stone synonymous with
glitz and glamour. Meanwhile, very few revenues
reach the people of Kachin State, the site of the
Hpakant jade mines, or the population of Myanmar
as a whole.
As the country approaches an historic election,
the importance of these findings to Myanmar?s
future is hard to overstate. Our investigations
show that the elites who between them have most
to lose from an open and fair future also have
ready access to a vast slush fund in the shape
of the jade sector. This raises urgent questions
for reformers and their international partners.
What is happening to all this jade money? Is it only
being spent on real estate, fast cars and lavish
parties, or is it being used for political purposes
as well?..."
Source/publisher:
Global Witness
Date of publication:
2015-10-23
Date of entry/update:
2015-10-24
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Gems - mining and trade
Language:
English, Kachin, Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
Format :
pdf pdf pdf
Size:
5.14 MB 925.67 KB 2.2 MB
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Description:
" Locals involved in the gem trade have called for reform to the sector after an explosive new report into Burma?s jade industry.
Friday?s report, published by Global Witness, estimates the value of the country?s jade trade at US$31 billion in 2014—nearly half of the country?s gross domestic product. It claimed that most of the wealth from jade production flowed directly into the coffers of military conglomerates, well-connected firms and former junta figures, including the family of Snr-Gen Than Shwe.
Myanmar Gems and Jewellery Entrepreneurs Association secretary Tun Hla Aung said that the report was a stark reminder of the massive amounts of wealth that had been stripped from the country as a result of black market trade..."
Kyaw Hsu Mon
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy"
Date of publication:
2015-10-23
Date of entry/update:
2015-10-24
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Gems - mining and trade
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
"The Burma Army has ordered more than 1,000 Kachin villagers to leave three villages near the jade mining town of Hpakant, Kachin State, warning civilians that there be could fighting between the army and Kachin rebels soon, local sources said on Wednesday.
Residents of the villages of Kanzihall, Aung Bar Lay and Tang Kaw, located about 16 km (about 10 miles) from Hpakant, were told by Light Infantry Division 66 to leave their homes by Tuesday 6 pm, according to Hla San, a National League for Democracy (NLD) member based in Hpakant town..."
Lawi WAeng, May Kha
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy"
Date of publication:
2014-10-15
Date of entry/update:
2014-12-21
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Gems - mining and trade
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
Gem traders in Mandalay are gearing up in opposition to a government plan to relocate Burma?s biggest jade and gem market.
Local traders, who have long opposed a relocation plan that would move them from downtown Mandalay to Amarapura, in the outskirts of the city, said they would submit a formal complaint to the divisional parliament while the issue is under debate by lawmakers.
?We will submit a complaint to the divisional parliament and request that the market be upgraded instead of moved, as we all wish,” said Than Win, a trader and chairman of a community committee advocating for renovation
Zarni Mann
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy"
Date of publication:
2014-12-15
Date of entry/update:
2014-12-21
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Gems - mining and trade
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
"More than 2,000 residents joined a protest on November 20 in Phakant, Kachin State, demanding greater autonomy for the state government to enable it to administer resource extraction in the state and improve security and living standards.
The protest is said to be connected with the death of a resident who was killed while solo gem mining on October 31 in Phakant with protesters saying that commercial mining provides no benefit for residents..."
Source/publisher:
"Eleven Media"
Date of publication:
2014-11-22
Date of entry/update:
2014-12-21
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Gems - mining and trade
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
"After a two-year suspension due to armed conflict in the area, jade mining has resumed in Kachin State?s Phakhant Township, but only large companies have re-entered the areas, local residents say..."
Source/publisher:
"Eleven"
Date of publication:
2014-10-07
Date of entry/update:
2014-12-21
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Gems - mining and trade
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
"NRGI recently commissioned images by a Myanmar photographer, Minzayar, who has documented the lives of the illegal jade miners flowing into Kachin state in the north of Myanmar as they pursue higher incomes...ade mining, both legal and illegal, is an apt lens through which to view the very complex environment in Myanmar, and the political economy of extractives in particular. It reveals the numerous governance challenges and failures that have prompted efforts at reforming the sector since the opening of the country a short time ago. Given its high value and its abundance in Myanmar, jade has been a significant source of revenue for the country?s government; according to official statistics jade exports amounted to more than $1 billion in the 2013-2014 fiscal year. However, reports suggest that the state budget might actually be missing potentially huge sums from jade mining. A Harvard Kennedy School report from 2013 even argued that government jade revenue should possibly be much higher than that from oil and gas, with at least 50 percent of jade revenues escaping taxation..."
Matthieu Salomon
Source/publisher:
Natural Resource Goverance Institute (NRGI)
Date of publication:
2014-10-17
Date of entry/update:
2014-12-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Gems - mining and trade
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
"As China grows, so does its appetite for jade. But the gemstone?s journey from Myanmar?s mines to China?s consumers follows a trail of addiction, infection and exploitation"....."MYITKYINA, Myanmar — At 16, the gem trader?s son set out for the jade mines to seek his fortune in the precious stone that China craves. But a month in, the teenager, Sang Aung Bau Hkum, was feeding his own addiction: heroin, the drug of choice among the men who work the bleak terrain of gouged earthen pits, shared needles and dwindling hope here in the jungles of northern Myanmar.
Three years later he finally found what he had come for — a jade rock ?as green as a summer leaf.” He spent some of the $6,000 that a Chinese trader paid him on a motorcycle, a cellphone and gambling.
?The rest disappeared into my veins,” he said, tapping the crook in his left arm as dozens of other gaunt miners in varying states of withdrawal passed the time at a rudimentary rehabilitation clinic here. ?The Chinese bosses know we?re addicted to heroin, but they don?t care. Their minds are filled with jade.”..."
Dan Levin (article); Jonah M. Kessel (video)
Source/publisher:
"New York Times"
Date of publication:
2014-12-01
Date of entry/update:
2014-12-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Gems - mining and trade
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
"Myanmar?s exports of the jade mined in northern Kachin State are estimated to be worth US$6-9 billion per year. But the government?s tax take is paltry and, as today?s New York Times article shows, the people of Kachin see few benefits. So where?s the money? And what can be done to ensure that it goes where it should? Myanmar?s exports of the jade mined in northern Kachin State are estimated to be worth US$6-9 billion per year. But the government?s tax take is paltry and, as today?s New York Times article shows, the people of Kachin see few benefits. So where?s the money? And what can be done to ensure that it goes where it should?
Answering these questions is critical both to the government?s efforts to tackle corruption and the prospects for a lasting peace in Kachin State, the scene of Myanmar?s most serious armed conflict..."
Mike Davis
Source/publisher:
Global Witness
Date of publication:
2014-12-02
Date of entry/update:
2014-12-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Gems - mining and trade
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
"China?s jade obsession drives a multi-billion dollar black market that fuels a drug-infested jade mining industry....Gold is valuable but jade is priceless, so goes a Chinese saying. For centuries, the Chinese consider jade an imperial stone with mystical properties. Today it is coveted all over China as a status symbol, a collectible and an investment.
Demand from increasingly wealthy Chinese drives the value of jade through the roof. At this year?s Shanghai World Jewellery Expo, auctioneers put the opening bid for top grade jade items at more than $160 a gram, exceeding four times the price of gold.
Intricately designed pieces, made from top grade jade known as jadeite, are viewed as attractive investments despite the lack of scientific valuation methods. In recent years, jadeite has provided better returns than real estate.
But the imperial stone delivers a death sentence to treasure hunters in Myanmar, where China?s jadeite comes from.
Most of Myanmar?s raw jade enters a murky black market. Its official revenue from jade exports over from 2011 to 2014 was $1.3bn. But Harvard University?s Ash Center estimates total jade sales - including through unofficial channels - were $8bn in 2011 alone, suggesting most of the revenue does not go into government coffers.
The Myanmar government will not speak to us on camera. But our investigations reveal a corrupt senior government official who works with businessmen in the illegal trade of raw jade, including helping to falsify tax documents.
In northern Kachin state, we follow jade smugglers to the remote Hpakant mining town, the source of the world?s best jade. The men are part of the government?s border guard force. The officer in charge tells us how he pays off army and police commanders along the smuggling trail to China..."
Chan Tao Chou
Source/publisher:
Aljazeera (101 East)
Date of publication:
2014-11-28
Date of entry/update:
2014-11-30
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Gems - mining and trade, Burma: opium and heroin
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
This report includes a situation update submitted to KHRG in July 2012 by a community member describing events occurring in Nyaunglebin District, during July 2012. It describes the Norwegian government?s plans for a development project in Kheh Der village tract, which is to support the villagers with their livelihood needs. In addition, the legislator of Kyauk Kyi Township, U Nyan Shwe, reported that he was going to undertake a stone-mining development project in the township, which led the Burmese government to order a company, U Paing, to go and test the stone in Maw Day village on July 1st, 2012. U Paing had left the area by the 8th of July due to safety concerns after a landmine explosion occurred in the near vicinity. Also described are villagers? fears to do with such projects, particularly in regards to environmental damage that could result from mining.
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
Date of publication:
2012-09-05
Date of entry/update:
2012-11-05
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
263.01 KB
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Description:
"...Burmese jadeite is a global business predicated on human suffering and the absence of the rule of law, and is
controlled with an iron grip by Burma?s military regime. The regime led by Senior General Than Shwe grew in
notoriety in September 2007 when it violently suppressed peaceful protests led by Buddhist clergy in Burma. The
regime?s status as an international pariah was further cemented when it obstructed humanitarian aid to 2.4 million
people affected by Nargis, a class four cyclone that hit the Irrawaddy delta region on May 3, 2008, killing 150,000.
Burma?s regime has effectively consolidated military control over the entire gems industry, including jadeite, by
eliminating small and independent companies from mining and forcing all sales to go through national auctions
held by official government ministries in Rangoon. Gems are now Burma?s third largest export and provide the
regime with an important source of foreign currency1.
Much of this cash comes from China, which has recently seen a dramatic rise in demand for Burmese jadeite due
to its overall economic growth. On March 27, 2007, the Beijing Organizing Committee of the Games of the XXIX
Olympiad (BOCOG) announced that the design for the medals of the Beijing Games included jade from China?s
Qinghai province2. BOCOG has publicly stated that their officially licensed products are being made with Qinghai
jade (or nephrite), not jadeite from Burma. However, many if not most of the jade products on the general market
are from the abuse-ridden jadeite industry in Burma and profit Burma?s brutal military regime. The showcasing of
jade on the world stage will further escalate the growth in demand3.
Jadeite production comes at significant costs to the human rights and environmental security of the people living
in Kachin state. Land confiscation and forced relocation are commonplace and improper mining practices lead
to frequent landslides, floods, and other environmental damage. Conditions in the mines are deplorable, with
frequent accidents and base wages less than US$1 per day. An environment of impunity and violence has been
created by the military regime and its corporate partners, who inflict beatings on and even kill locals who are
caught collecting stones cast off as trash by the mining companies. Mining company bosses and local authorities
are complicit in a thriving local trade in drugs, which – when coupled with a substantial sex industry – has led to a
generalized HIV/AIDS epidemic that has spilled over the border into China.
While Burmese jadeite is only one part of China?s vast economic relationship to Burma?s military rulers, it is an
industry on which individuals can have a direct and substantial impact, if they make conscientious decisions not to
buy what can justifiably be called ?blood? jade...
The authors of this report call on individuals – global consumers, visitors to China, Olympic spectators, and Olympic
athletes – to boycott the sale of Burma?s blood jade. The Beijing Organizing Committee of the Games of the XXIX
Olympiad (BOCOG) and the government of the People?s Republic of China should take immediate action to curb
the global trade in blood jade, beginning by ending their promotion of jade products from Burma..."
Source/publisher:
8808 For Burma & All Kachin Students and Youth Union
Date of publication:
2008-08-04
Date of entry/update:
2010-07-04
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Gems - mining and trade, Campaigns
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
1.17 MB
Local URL:
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Description:
Burma verf?gt ?ber das weltweit gr??te Vorkommen von Rubinen. Unter unmenschlichen Bedingungen abgebaut, flie?en die Erl?se direkt in die Taschen des diktatorischen Regimes, egal ob offiziell exportiert oder illegal gehandelt. Boykott von Rubinen; Kimberley-Prozess; Boykott of Rubins, Kimberley-Process
Jolien Schure
Source/publisher:
Fatal Transactions - Eine europ?ische Kampagne zur Rohstoffgerechtigkeit
Date of publication:
2007-10-31
Date of entry/update:
2010-06-09
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Gems - mining and trade, Formal Sanctions
Language:
German, Deutsch
Local URL:
more
Description:
Burma?s Gem Trade and Human Rights Abuses
Updated July 2008
Burma produces a variety of gems but is most famous for its rubies and jade. The vast majority of high-quality rubies on the world market originate from Burma. Burmese rubies are renowned for their dark ?pigeon?s blood” color, which makes them more valuable than rubies produced elsewhere. According to industry estimates, Burma accounts for more than 90 percent of the global trade by value. Burma also dominates as the top producer of jadeite, the most expensive form of jade. Burma is especially well known for ?imperial jade,” a gem-quality jade that is valued highly for its deep green hue. In addition, Burma produces and exports a variety of other precious and semi-precious stones, including sapphires and spinel. The color and quality of gems from Burma make them attractive for use in jewelry sold around the world, but the beauty of Burmese gems is marred by their association with serious human rights abuses. A growing number of governments, ethically-minded businesses, and civil society groups are working to curtail the international trade in Burmese gems through targeted sanctions and boycott campaigns. There are signs that these efforts are having an effect.
Source/publisher:
Human Rights Watch
Date of publication:
2008-06-30
Date of entry/update:
2008-08-07
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Gems - mining and trade
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
Arten, Geschichte, Geologie von Mineralien in Mogok (Sagaing Division);types, history, geology of minerals in Mogok (Sagaing Division)
Source/publisher:
Mineralienatlas-Lexikon
Date of publication:
2007-12-07
Date of entry/update:
2008-05-10
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Sagaing Division, Gems - mining and trade
Language:
German, Deutsch
Local URL:
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Description:
Allein der Handel mit Rubinen und anderen Edelsteinen habe der staatlichen Firma "Myanmar Gems Enterprise" nach offiziellen Angaben zwischen April 2006 und März 2007 Einnahmen in Höhe von 297 Millionen US-Dollars verschafft. Dreimal im Jahr lade Myanmar ausländische Händler zu Edelstein-Auktionen ein. Bei der letzten Versteigerung im März 2007 seien Steine im Wert von 185 Millionen US-Dollars umgesetzt worden. Damit sei die Ausfuhr von Edelsteinen neben dem Handel mit Teak-Holz sowie mit Erdöl und Erdgas, der bedeutendste Devisenbringer des Landes. Gemstones
Source/publisher:
Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker
Date of publication:
2007-10-15
Date of entry/update:
2008-05-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Economy: general, analytical, statistical (various sources), Gems - mining and trade, Gems
Language:
German, Deutsch
Local URL:
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Description:
"?Capitalizing on Conflict? presents information illustrating how trade in timber, gems,
and gold is financing violent conflict, including widespread and gross human rights
abuses, in Burma. Although trade in these ?conflict goods? accounts for a small
percentage of the total global trade, it severely compromises human security and
undermines socio-economic development, not only in Burma, but throughout the
region.
Ironically, cease-fire agreements signed between the late 1980s and early 1990s
have dramatically expanded the area where businesses operate. While many
observers have have drawn attention to the political ramifications of these ceasefires,
little attention has been focused on the economic ramifications. These ceasefires,
used strategically by the military regime to end fighting in some areas and
foment intra-ethnic conflict in others and weaken the unity of opposition groups,
have had a net effect of increasing violence in some areas.
Capitalizing on Conflict focuses on two zones where logging and mining are both
widespread and the damage from these activities is severe... Both case
studies highlight the dilemmas cease-fire arrangements often pose for the local
communities, which frequently find themselves caught between powerful and
conflicting military and business interests. The information provides insights into the
conditions that compel local communities to participate in the unsustainable
exploitation of their own local resources, even though they know they are destroying
the very ecosystems they depend upon to maintain their way of life. The other
alternative — to stand aside and let outsiders do it and then be left with nothing — is
equally unpalatable..."
Table of Contents:
Map of Burma;
Map of Logging and Mining Areas;
Executive Summary;
Recommendations;
Part I: Context;
General Background on Cease-fires;
Conflict Trade and Burma;
Part II: Logging Case Study;
Background on the Conflict;
Shwe Gin Township (Pegu Division);
Papun Districut (Karen State);
Reported Socio-Economic and Environmental Impacts;
Part III: Mining Case Study;
Background on the Conflict;
Mogok (Mandalay Division);
Shwe Gin Township (Pegu Division);
Reported Socio-Economic and Environmental Impacts;
Conclusion.
Ken MacLean
Source/publisher:
EarthRights International (ERI), Karen Environnmental & Social Action Network (KESAN)
Date of publication:
2003-09-30
Date of entry/update:
2003-11-07
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Gems, Minerals and Mining - Burma (general articles and analyses), Gems - mining and trade, Deforestation
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
939.97 KB
Local URL:
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Description:
"More than a million miners desperately excavate the bedrock of a remote valley hidden in the shadows of the Himalayas. They are in search of just one thing - jadeite, the most valuable gemstone in the world. But with wages paid in pure heroin and HIV rampant, the miners are paying an even higher price. Adrian Levy and Cathy Scott-Clark travel to the death camps of Burma...Hpakant is Burma's black heart, drawing hundreds of thousands of people in with false hopes and pumping them out again, infected and broken. Thousands never leave the mines, but those who make it back to their communities take with them their addiction and a disease provincial doctors are not equipped to diagnose or treat. The UN and WHO have now declared the pits a disaster zone, but the military regime still refuses to let any international aid in..." jade
Adrian Levy & Cathy Scott-Clark
Source/publisher:
The Observer (London)
Date of publication:
2001-11-11
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Format :
html
Size:
25.12 KB
Local URL:
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