"The dirty secrets behind Myanmar's rare-earths boom" DW, 24 May 2025

Nonprofit organization Global Witness reported in 2024 that Chinese producers of permanent magnets are sourcing rare earths from Myanmar.

China has reduced domestic mining for rare-earth elements, increasing the exploitation of deposits in neighboring Myanmar.

Lahtaw Kai says people in Myanmar don't want the Chinese to continue mining, and adds: "If the international community wants to continue buying these minerals, they should be responsibly sourced."

In late 2024, the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and its allied military forces wrested control of most of the mineral-rich region in the north [...].

This power shift has led to new negotiations between KIO and Chinese producers on taxing rare earth extraction.

While the KIO enjoys broad popular support [...] the 2024 Global Witness report says that on "both sides, this largely unregulated mining is environmentally devastating, and the threat it poses to ecosystems and to human health is becoming ever more urgent."

Lahtaw Kai and Seng Li demand more public oversight of safety at the operations.

"So far, civil society groups and the people have been excluded from the process of policy-making on mining [...] international organizations and governments should directly engage with the KIO to strengthen their governance," said Seng Li.

And although Seng Li doesn't think rare-earth mining can be stopped, he said conditions must be improved to "benefit not only the armed actors and the Chinese investors." The local populations and the state should "share the benefits, through systematic and regulated processes."