New regulation to curb RE mining impacts in EAO-controlled areas in Myanmar poorly enforced, says Kachin researcher

Chinese mining investors and operators are still accused of taking advantage of mining workers, including women, while environmental impacts continue to be widely observed in Southeast Asia’s most concentrated rare earth mining area, Myanmar’s Kachin State

The 5th International Conference on Burma/Myanmar Studies (ICBMS), which took place from August 14 to 16, featured two consecutive sessions on rare earth (RE) mining activities in Myanmar’s hotspots, reflecting the strong interest in the issue among participants.

The first session, “Rare Earth: Extractive Industry, Global Supply Chain and Transboundary Water Pollution”, was organised by Rivers and Rights as Plenary Session 3. The second session, “Rare Earth Mining in Myanmar: Environmental Degradation, Gender-Based Exploitation, and Shifting Governance in Chipwe,” was organised as a roundtable by Mizzima news outlet.

The conference, held at Chiang Mai University, brought together participants and members of the academic community to explore the transformations Myanmar has undergone following the 2021 coup and the election, with the aim of academically addressing a new political imagination that could help shape thinking about a new Myanmar. Various sub-themes apart from politics, including natural resource governance, were therefore discussed alongside other social and economic issues. (Read: 5th Myanmar Studies conference kicks off with calls for political imagination and inclusive diplomacy amid Myanmar’s “interregnum”)

At the conference, rare earth mining in Myanmar, one of the most critical issues challenging Myanmar and its neighbours today, was extensively discussed and drew the attention of a large number of participants. Many packed the room and raised questions that they said required answers from the relevant authorities, including non-state actors.

Seng Li, a research fellow at the Regional Center for Social Science and Sustainable Development (RCSD) at Chiang Mai University, presented findings from his PhD research, The Governance of Rare Earths Mining in Kachin State, Myanmar, which identified both progress on the ground and continuing shortcomings.

According to Mr. Seng Li, the Kachin Independence Organisation and its armed wing, the Kachin Independence Army (KIO/KIA), first controlled early mining sites in Mai Ja Yang near the border with China in 2010. They later took control of the most densely concentrated rare earth mining sites in Pangwa and Chipwe in late 2024. The areas had previously been under the control of another armed organisation, the New Democratic Army–Kachin and its army-turned Border Guard Force of the junta government (NDA-K/BGF).

Aside from security considerations, financial incentives to support its fighting cause and increase its leverage also drove the KIO to take control of the two areas.

As reported by Myanmar Witness, at least 400 rare earth mining sites in Kachin State had been identified since 2021, while another 45 sites had emerged in adjacent areas of Shan State. Although some local residents have viewed rare earth mining as a new economic opportunity after the hardships caused by prolonged fighting and COVID-19, many others have experienced its social and environmental impacts and begun complaining to KIO leaders.

According to Mr. Seng Li, KIO leaders initially introduced taxation for Chinese mining investors in late 2024 following a brief scuffle. Since 2025, there have been changes in rare earth mining governance in Kachin, with the sector becoming more institutionalised and regulated.

The KIO Central Department of Commerce eventually introduced mining regulations in late 2025 to regulate rare earth mining in the area. The regulations consist of eight chapters covering matters ranging from permit application requirements to enforcement and penalties, under three separate committees responsible for different matters. Labour provisions and environmental protection are also addressed.

However, as noted by Mr. Seng Li, three major challenges remain: labour protection, gender-based protection, and environmental protection.

“Looking at the overall situation after the KIO institutionalised and regulated this mining sector, we can see some improvements in terms of taxation, logistics and trade, foreign personnel control, and public security. However, issues concerning environmental protection, labour protection, and gender-based protection still remain at the mining sites,” said Mr. Seng Li.

I Plenary Session 3, “Rare Earth: Extractive Industry, Global Supply Chain and Transboundary Water Pollution by Rivers and Rights”. Photos: Sayan Chuenudomsavad

Based on interviews conducted for his research, Mr. Seng Li found that mining workers were not always paid their salaries on time. When workers submitted complaints, their concerns were often not addressed effectively.

In one interview, a worker told him that labour protection remained largely absent and occupational safety was insufficient. Many workers were exposed to hazardous chemicals without proper training, medical support, or systematic health monitoring, Mr. Seng Li noted in his findings.

In addition, there are problems between investors and workers at the mining sites, particularly conflicts between local workers and Chinese employers. The problems often arose because Chinese employers believed that, after paying workers, they had the authority to assign them tasks as they wished. When conflicts occurred, Chinese employers sometimes contacted the KIA, while workers reported the incidents to the KIO.

In some cases, police came to the mining sites to investigate and report on the problems. However, their decisions often appeared to favour Chinese operators. As a result, Chinese operators often showed little respect for local people, Mr. Seng Li noted.

“So this is the ground situation: although we have the mechanisms, they are more favourable to Chinese operators,” remarked Mr. Seng Li.

Furthermore, Mr. Seng Li said female workers continue to encounter barriers to employment unless they engage in what he described as “exploitative relationships” with Chinese operators or managers. Those who refuse such arrangements are dismissed without justification, he said.

“These are the serious challenges that female workers are facing until now. Additionally, environmental governance remains weak and poorly enforced. Companies abandon mining sites without remediation,” said Mr. Seng Li.

Mr. Seng Li’s findings are supported by his fellow researcher at the same centre, Cindy Aung, who conducted qualitative research in Pangwa. Her research, “Entangled Frontiers: Women’s Lived Experiences at the Nexus of Conflict and Rare Earth Extraction in Kachin State, Myanmar,” focused on 12 key informant interviews with women who are local residents, community members, and representatives of civil society organisations in the area, alongside a review of literature and secondary data.

Although women’s experiences in the study area are shaped by other factors, including conflict and militarisation, rare earth extraction and weak governance were also highlighted as key factors behind these experiences, according to Ms. Cindy.

While ongoing conflict and militarisation create insecurity and limit mobility and access to resources, rare earth extraction intensifies these challenges by affecting land, water, and livelihoods. Meanwhile, weak governance provides little protection, accountability, or support for affected communities and women, who are largely silenced due to social norms and male domination in decision-making, Ms. Cindy noted.

“These combined factors are not abstract, so they directly shape daily life,” said Ms. Cindy.

A more challenging form of exploitation of women has also emerged, according to Ms. Cindy. Based on her research, female workers at mining sites, most of whom have migrated from elsewhere, are offered so-called A-yaw positions, meaning “mixed” positions.

Ms. Cindy explained that A-yaw positions are offered to women, who want to find jobs in mining areas but have no clearly defined job descriptions. Instead, they are required to perform a mixture of tasks, according to Ms. Cindy.

“If you want to get a clear job like a cook or cleaner, you have to sleep with the company men, the workers, or managers. So, that is the point I want to highlight, which is happening right now. No one is protecting them, and the women workers are suffering sexual exploitation by the company workers and Chinese workers. That is very strange because in Kachin, we have not only a rare earth mining area, we have lots of mining areas—gold, jade, amber—and lots of logging areas. But that kind of A-yaw positions, mixed positions, are not happening there.

“Rare earth mining areas are very remote. Women have not much CSOs, and they do not have strong enough community voices. The Kachin society is very patriarchal, men-dominated, and very religious. It’s also the same in rare earth mining areas. As they face forms of sexual exploitation, they have no protection,” said Ms. Cindy.

Ms. Cindy also raised related concerns about miscarriage, abortion, and bleeding amid poor local health services and limited access to medicines for women in the mining sites and communities in the area.

Ms. Cindy concluded that conflict and resource extraction are deeply interconnected. Women, meanwhile, face layered gender-related impacts, while governance failures further intensify inequality in the area.

She proposed strengthening the safeguarding of land rights and the environment, as well as responsibility and accountability in the mining industry. Engagement with civil society organisations should be promoted, alongside the protection of women’s rights and the strengthening of protection mechanisms.

Last but not least, she said, inclusive governance should be strengthened.

Mr. Seng Li, meanwhile, also recommended strengthening regulatory enforcement, noting that a substantial gap remains between regulatory provisions and their implementation in practice on the ground, despite the KIO having introduced mining regulations. He further noted the limitations of KIO enforcement in areas controlled by other EAOs.

So, he proposed greater engagement from the international community. The researcher from Kachin State noted that it is also important to acknowledge and recognise the significance of ethnic armed organisations (EAOs) in natural resource governance within the Myanmar context.

International governments and organisations should recognise and constructively engage with EAOs, including the KIO/KIA, and provide appropriate technical and institutional support to strengthen transparent, accountable, and sustainable resource governance in Kachin State and Myanmar, he said.

Read more in The Big Picture.