17 Junly 2020

Hundreds of migrant jade prospectors continue to scour slag heaps for pieces of the precious gemstone amid dangerous conditions during the monsoon season in Myanmar’s Hpakant mining area, despite a deadly mudslide that killed roughly 200 scavengers in early July.

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Those who narrowly escaped the early July disaster said they must continue scavenging to make a living, though the risk of additional deadly mudslides remains high amid torrential rains that saturate the country from late May to October.

“For us, the poor laborers, we cannot have our own mining plots, [so] we have to scavenge wherever we can whenever we have the chance,” said Kyaw Soe, 28, who survived the mine landslide that occurred near Hpakant’s Wai Khar village.

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Most privately owned jade mining companies temporarily cease operations during the monsoon season, presenting a good opportunity for scavengers, or yemase as they are known locally, to dig around for bits of the stone, Kyaw Soe said.

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A day after the landslide, President Win Myint appointed a six-member investigative body led by Ohn Win, Myanmar’s minister for natural resources and environmental conservation, to look into the causes of the latest of many accidents to hit the gemstone industry.

Ohn Win told local media that “greedy” miners were to blame, prompting criticism of his lack of empathy for impoverished freelance prospectors who work in an industry with weak oversight and regulations.

“The regulatory organization which is in charge of rules and regulations for jade mines is mainly responsible for preventing these kinds of accidents. This organization is formed by the government,” Hanna Hindstrom, senior campaigner for Myanmar at the NGO Global Witness, told RFA.

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