"Satellite images show surge in rare earth mining in rebel-held Myanmar", Al Jazeera, 7 Aug 2025

While some have blamed the recent river pollution on the UWSA’s gold mines, the latest tests in Thailand lay most of the fault on the mining of rare earth minerals.

In a study commissioned by the Thai government [...] the samples collected closest to the border with Myanmar showed the highest levels of heavy metals and confirmed that the source of the contamination lay upstream of Thailand in Shan state.

[...] water samples contained the same “fingerprint” of heavy metals, and in roughly the same concentrations, as had earlier water samples from Myanmar’s Kachin State [...] where rare earth mining has been thriving for the past decade.

“We compared that with the concentrations we found in the Kok River, and we found that it has a very good correlation,” [...].

“Concentrations in the Kok River can be attributed about 60 to 70 percent … [to] rare earth mining,” [...].

[...] locals in Kachin have also told [...] about mineworkers dying in unusually high numbers.

The UWSA could not be reached for comment, and neither China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs nor its embassy in Myanmar replied to Al Jazeera’s emails seeking a response.