"A Toxic Silence: How Myanmar’s gold rush threatens international rivers" 28 April 2025

Unregulated gold mining in eastern Shan State raises concerns about the risk of cyanide contamination in key transboundary rivers near the Thai–Myanmar border, including the Mekong.

In 2007, the first four Chinese miners arrived with an official concession.

As the excavations recently expanded to more than 20 mines – covering nearly 1,780 hectares, or five times the size of New York’s Central Park – Nam Kham turned dark and foul-smelling.

Satellite imagery acquired by Mekong Eye and Dialogue Earth shows that none of the gold mining sites in Loi Kham or along the mountain ridge and rivers in eastern Shan State are equipped with proper cyanide storage or treatment facilities.

The images also reveal the risk of water leakage into several unnamed streams that flow three kilometers downhill into the transboundary Mekong River, as well as other international rivers.

The risk is especially high during floods, which can carry toxic waste from mining sites into nearby villages—as experienced by residents of Na Hai Long village, located downhill from Loi Kham, during a major flood in 2022.

Mining operations in eastern Shan State have been active along four international rivers — the Sai, Kok, Ruak, and Mekong Rivers — with many gold mines located just next to the Sai and the Mekong.

Villages in Mae Sai district, along the Sai River, reported murky water flooding their communities in September 2024.

Despite these mitigation measures, the Chatree mine faced repeated allegations of chemical leakage into surrounding communities, leading to court cases and a government-ordered shutdown that lasted six years.

In the vacuum left by weak regulations and the ongoing conflict, Chinese miners have carved out a dominant presence in Myanmar’s gold-rich war zones, particularly along the porous border with China.

In contrast, no legal action has been taken against Chinese mining operations in Myanmar since the military coup of 2021.