Using heavy earth-excavators and explosives, miners have been tearing into Myanmar’s northern hills in recent months, in a rush to excavate more jade from the world’s richest deposits of the gemstone before a new government takes office next year.
Hectares of forest have been felled, leaving behind craters, barren cliffs and a web of dirt tracks in the once-picturesque Kachin hills as the Chinese firms that dominate the jade business step up mining and aggressively seek new concessions.
They are anticipating the multi-billion dollar industry could change once Aung San Suu Kyi’s election-winning National League for Democracy (NLD) party takes office with a promise of clean governance, those in the trade said.
The NLD has said it would bring in rules and competition and crack down on rampant smuggling that deprives the government of hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue, but skeptics doubt it would be able to do much in the remote, rebel-infested region.
The Chinese have been flooding the trade with cash and equipment, ramping up production and taking over local miners said Nay Win Tun, a flamboyant lawmaker and heavyweight in the jade trade with close links to the Myanmar military.
“Right now, the market is being ruined by China,” he said in a rare interview at one of his mines near Hpakant, dressed in an orange shirt, sunglasses and a cowboy hat and surrounded by a uniformed entourage.
“Chinese companies tried to do a joint venture with my company,” Nay Win Tun said. As he spoke, one of his attendants stooped down and tied his shoe-laces.
“I didn’t accept because they’re asking for a share of profit that’s too much,” he added.
About 600 jade mining firms operate on about 9,000 hectares near the town of Hpakant, but activity is dominated by about 10 firms — mostly Chinese-led ventures — Burmese Ministry of Mines official Ye Htut said.
Because of the stepped-up extractions, thousands of ethnic villagers are being forced off their land.
Scavengers, or “handpickers” who scour mountains of loose earth and rubble for nuggets of jade are sometimes buried alive, including 114 killed in a landslide last month.
Many of the scavengers are addicted to narcotics.
Myanmar miners said they cannot stand up to Chinese tycoons who buy influence and invest in modern heavy machinery such as Caterpillar and Komatsu earth-excavators. Processions of giant trucks, with 2.5m-high wheels, are a common sight in the area and all belong to Chinese firms.
These firms have successfully cornered the market, selling directly to visiting Chinese buyers they are already familiar with, according to traders who spoke to reporters.
A Myanmar Gems Enterprise official said Chinese firms had co-opted local army commanders to secure mining concessions on their behalf, knowing they were too powerful for the local government to refuse them.
Much of the jade is being smuggled into China, locals say.
According to official data, China — the world’s biggest jade market — imported only about US$540 million of Myanmar jade in the first nine months of this year.
Non-governmental organization Global Witness estimated the value of Myanmar’s jade production at US$31 billion last year.
A regional police official in Hpakant said hundreds of trucks were concealed in the Kachin jungles.
“At night, there are nine or 10 trucks moving,” the officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Since it’s an army dominated area, the Chinese work together with the army to move trucks to Hpakant.”
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