The human and environmental toll behind Myanmar's rare earth mines

Myanmar supplies the world's heavy rare earths through militarized, secretive mines linked to deadly landslides and forced labor.

Myanmar is described as the world's largest supplier of heavy rare earths, a subset of the 17 elements used in wind turbines, electric vehicles, and advanced weapons. Reporting details how that supply comes at a steep human cost. After the 2021 military coup damaged the formal economy and 2024 conscription narrowed options, workers have taken mining jobs in remote, militarized regions. One worker, given the pseudonym Min, paid a broker about $290 to arrange jobs for himself and his brother; they each earned around $430 a month building roads at a mine site. Min's brother died in a landslide weeks after arriving.

Local media have documented at least five fatal landslides at these sites in recent years, one burying more than a dozen workers. In May, a human rights group reported that a Chinese mining company in Shan State used prisoners and trafficking victims for forced labor, finding both the Myanmar military and the United Wa State Army complicit. Chinese firms extract rare earths in autonomous zones controlled by ethnic armies that take a cut, then truck the material into China and blend it before processing.

This is a friction signal for the commons. The clean-energy transition depends on these minerals, but their sourcing here is tied to environmental poisoning, armed conflict, and coerced labor — costs hidden inside the supply chain rather than priced in.

The caveats matter: Min's account could not be independently verified, workers used pseudonyms for safety, and the industry operates with no public records. Few journalists have reported on the ground, and the source text appears cut off.

Source: Rest of World