KVIG Informative

Unregulated mines extracting the minerals used in electric vehicles and wind turbines now sit along rivers that feed the Mekong. Thailand’s government says it has little leverage to stop the runoff.

The Stimson Center, a Washington think tank, used satellite imagery to identify more than 2,400 unregulated or illegal mining operations in Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia in the first region-wide study of its kind. Its dashboard now lists 2,539 mines along rivers in mainland Southeast Asia, including more than 500 rare earth mines concentrated in Myanmar and Laos. As many as 43 rivers and tributaries in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam could be polluted, Stimson found.

Most of the rare earth sites are in Myanmar, where Stimson counts at least 549 unregulated mines using in-situ leaching. The method uses large volumes of river water and chemicals and produces wastewater laden with heavy metals. Global Witness reported that Myanmar’s rare earth exports to China rose from 19,500 tonnes in 2021 to 41,700 tonnes in 2023.

Kachin State holds about 400 mining sites, nearly 90 percent of Myanmar’s rare earth operations, according to Myanmar Witness data that Kachin researcher Seng Li of Chiang Mai University presented in August. Seng Li said mining there expanded dramatically after the 2021 military coup. He said China’s crackdown on illegal rare earth mining inside its own borders pushed Chinese investors across the border into Myanmar.

Stimson’s analysts say Chinese mining companies appear to have cornered the market for in-situ leaching, and that Chinese nationals generally work on the mines as managers and technical experts. China’s embassy in Bangkok has publicly denied any involvement of Chinese miners in rare earth mining in Myanmar.

Laos is the next front. It banned rare earth mining in 2017, yet Stimson counts at least 26 rare earth mines operating there, the first starting in 2022, shortly after Myanmar’s coup. Stimson says the coup likely pushed Chinese rare earth mining activity into Laos.

Thailand’s government says it has little leverage over mining operations across its borders in Myanmar and Laos. Suebsakun Kidnukorn of Mae Fah Luang University in Chiang Rai warned that the mines threaten the farms and fisheries that feed the region. Laos banned the industry nine years ago, and the mines arrived anyway. The ore goes to China, and the runoff goes downstream.