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Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Exclusive-China-backed militia secures control of new rare earth mines in Myanmar
By Naw Betty Han, Shoon Naing, Devjyot Ghoshal, Eleanor Whalley and Napat Wesshasartar BANGKOK (Reuters) -A Chinese-backed militia is protecting new rare earth mines in eastern Myanmar, according to four people familiar with the matter, as Beijing moves to secure control of the minerals it is wielding as a bargaining chip in its trade war with Washington. China has a near-monopoly over the processing of heavy rare earths into magnets that power critical goods like wind turbines, medical devices and electric vehicles. But Beijing is heavily reliant on Myanmar for the rare earth metals and oxides needed to produce them: the war-torn country was the source of nearly half those imports in the first four months of this year, Chinese customs data show. Beijing's access to fresh stockpiles of minerals like dysprosium and terbium has been throttled recently after a major mining belt in Myanmar's north was taken over by an armed group battling the Southeast Asian country's junta, which Beijing supports. Now, in the hillsides of Shan state in eastern Myanmar, Chinese miners are opening new deposits for extraction, according to two of the sources, both of whom work at one of the mines. At least 100 people are working day-to-night shifts excavating hillsides and extracting minerals using chemicals, the sources said. Two other residents of the area said they had witnessed trucks carrying material from the mines, between the towns of Mong Hsat and Mong Yun, toward the Chinese border some 200km away. Reuters identified some of the sites using imagery from commercial satellite providers Planet Labs and Maxar Technologies. Business records across Myanmar are poorly maintained and challenging to access, and Reuters could not independently identify the ownership of the mines. The mines operate under the protection of the United Wa State Army, according to four sources, two of whom were able to identify the uniforms of the militia members. The UWSA, which is among the biggest armed groups in Shan state, also controls one of the world's largest tin mines. It has long-standing commercial and military links with China, according to the U.S. Institute of Peace, a conflict resolution non-profit. Details of the militia's role and the export route of the rare earths are reported by Reuters for the first time. University of Manchester lecturer Patrick Meehan, who has closely studied Myanmar's rare earth industry and reviewed satellite imagery of the Shan mines, said the "mid-large size" sites appeared to be the first significant facilities in the country outside the Kachin region in the north. "There is a whole belt of rare earths that goes down through Kachin, through Shan, parts of Laos," he said. China's Ministry of Commerce, as well as the UWSA and the junta, did not respond to Reuters' questions. Access to rare earths is increasingly important to Beijing, which tightened restrictions on its exports of metals and magnets after U.S. President Donald Trump resumed his trade war with China this year. While China appears to have recently approved more exports and Trump has signalled progress in resolving the dispute, the move has upended global supply chains central to automakers, aerospace manufacturers and semiconductor companies. The price of terbium oxide has jumped by over 27% across the last six months, Shanghai Metals Market data show. Dysprosium oxide prices have fluctuated sharply, rising around 1% during the same period. CHINESE INFLUENCE A prominent circular clearing first appears in the forested hills of Shan state, some 30 km (18.6 miles) away from the Thai border, in April 2023, according to the satellite images reviewed by Reuters. By February 2025 - shortly after the Kachin mines suspended work - the site housed over a dozen leaching pools, which are ponds typically used to extract heavy rare earths, the images showed. Six km away, across the Kok river, another forest clearing was captured in satellite imagery from May 2024. Within a year, it had transformed into a facility with 20 leaching pools. Minerals analyst David Merriman, who reviewed two of the Maxar images for Reuters, said the infrastructure at the Shan mines, as well as observable erosion levels to the topography, indicated that the facilities "have been producing for a little bit already." At least one of the mines is run by a Chinese company using Chinese-speaking managers, according to the two mine workers and two members of the Shan Human Rights Foundation, an advocacy group that identified the existence of the operations in a May report using satellite imagery. An office at one of the two sites also had a company logo written in Chinese characters, said one of the workers, who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss sensitive matters. The use of Chinese operators in the Shan mines and transportation of the output to China mirrors a similar system in Kachin, where entire hillsides stand scarred by leaching pools. Chinese mining firms can produce heavy rare earth oxides in low-cost and loosely regulated Myanmar seven times cheaper than in other regions with similar deposits, said Neha Mukherjee of London-based Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. "Margins are huge." Beijing tightly controls the technology that allows for the efficient extraction of heavy rare earths, and she said that it would be difficult to operate a facility in Myanmar without Chinese assistance. The satellite imagery suggest the Shan mines are smaller than their Kachin counterparts but they are likely to yield the same elements, according to Merriman, who serves as research director at consultancy Project Blue. "The Shan State deposits will have terbium and dysprosium in them, and they will be the main elements that (the miners) are targeting there," he said. STRATEGIC TOOL The UWSA oversees a remote statelet the size of Belgium and, according to U.S. prosecutors, has long prospered from the drug trade. It has a long-standing ceasefire with the junta but still maintains a force of between 30,000 and 35,000 personnel, equipped with modern weaponry mainly sourced from China, according to Ye Myo Hein, a senior fellow at the Southeast Asia Peace Institute. "The UWSA functions as a key instrument for China to maintain strategic leverage along the Myanmar-China border and exert influence over other ethnic armed groups," he said. Some of those fighters are also closely monitoring the mining area, said SHRF member Leng Harn. "People cannot freely go in and out of the area without ID cards issued by UWSA." Shan state has largely kept out of the protracted civil war, in which an assortment of armed groups are battling the junta. The fighting has also roiled the Kachin mining belt and pushed many Chinese operators to cease work. China has repeatedly said that it seeks stability in Myanmar, where it has significant investments. Beijing has intervened to halt fighting in some areas near its border. "The Wa have had now 35 years with no real conflict with the Myanmar military," said USIP's Myanmar country director Jason Towers. "Chinese companies and the Chinese government would see the Wa areas as being more stable than other parts of northern Burma." The bet on Shan's rare earths deposit could provide more leverage to China amid a global scramble for the critical minerals, said Benchmark's Mukherjee. "If there's so much disruption happening in Kachin, they would be looking for alternative sources," she said. "They want to keep the control of heavy rare earths in their hands. They use that as a strategic tool." (Additional reporting by the Beijing newsroom; Writing by Devjyot Ghoshal; Editing by Katerina Ang)
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Exclusive-China-backed militia secures control of new rare earth mines in Myanmar
By Naw Betty Han, Shoon Naing, Devjyot Ghoshal, Eleanor Whalley and Napat Wesshasartar BANGKOK (Reuters) -A Chinese-backed militia is protecting new rare earth mines in eastern Myanmar, according to four people familiar with the matter, as Beijing moves to secure control of the minerals it is wielding as a bargaining chip in its trade war with Washington. China has a near-monopoly over the processing of heavy rare earths into magnets that power critical goods like wind turbines, medical devices and electric vehicles. But Beijing is heavily reliant on Myanmar for the rare earth metals and oxides needed to produce them: the war-torn country was the source of nearly half those imports in the first four months of this year, Chinese customs data show. Beijing's access to fresh stockpiles of minerals like dysprosium and terbium has been throttled recently after a major mining belt in Myanmar's north was taken over by an armed group battling the Southeast Asian country's junta, which Beijing supports. Now, in the hillsides of Shan state in eastern Myanmar, Chinese miners are opening new deposits for extraction, according to two of the sources, both of whom work at one of the mines. At least 100 people are working day-to-night shifts excavating hillsides and extracting minerals using chemicals, the sources said. Two other residents of the area said they had witnessed trucks carrying material from the mines, between the towns of Mong Hsat and Mong Yun, toward the Chinese border some 200km away. Reuters identified some of the sites using imagery from commercial satellite providers Planet Labs and Maxar Technologies. Business records across Myanmar are poorly maintained and challenging to access, and Reuters could not independently identify the ownership of the mines. The mines operate under the protection of the United Wa State Army, according to four sources, two of whom were able to identify the uniforms of the militia members. The UWSA, which is among the biggest armed groups in Shan state, also controls one of the world's largest tin mines. It has long-standing commercial and military links with China, according to the U.S. Institute of Peace, a conflict resolution non-profit. Details of the militia's role and the export route of the rare earths are reported by Reuters for the first time. University of Manchester lecturer Patrick Meehan, who has closely studied Myanmar's rare earth industry and reviewed satellite imagery of the Shan mines, said the "mid-large size" sites appeared to be the first significant facilities in the country outside the Kachin region in the north. "There is a whole belt of rare earths that goes down through Kachin, through Shan, parts of Laos," he said. China's Ministry of Commerce, as well as the UWSA and the junta, did not respond to Reuters' questions. Access to rare earths is increasingly important to Beijing, which tightened restrictions on its exports of metals and magnets after U.S. President Donald Trump resumed his trade war with China this year. While China appears to have recently approved more exports and Trump has signalled progress in resolving the dispute, the move has upended global supply chains central to automakers, aerospace manufacturers and semiconductor companies. The price of terbium oxide has jumped by over 27% across the last six months, Shanghai Metals Market data show. Dysprosium oxide prices have fluctuated sharply, rising around 1% during the same period. CHINESE INFLUENCE A prominent circular clearing first appears in the forested hills of Shan state, some 30 km (18.6 miles) away from the Thai border, in April 2023, according to the satellite images reviewed by Reuters. By February 2025 - shortly after the Kachin mines suspended work - the site housed over a dozen leaching pools, which are ponds typically used to extract heavy rare earths, the images showed. Six km away, across the Kok river, another forest clearing was captured in satellite imagery from May 2024. Within a year, it had transformed into a facility with 20 leaching pools. Minerals analyst David Merriman, who reviewed two of the Maxar images for Reuters, said the infrastructure at the Shan mines, as well as observable erosion levels to the topography, indicated that the facilities "have been producing for a little bit already." At least one of the mines is run by a Chinese company using Chinese-speaking managers, according to the two mine workers and two members of the Shan Human Rights Foundation, an advocacy group that identified the existence of the operations in a May report using satellite imagery. An office at one of the two sites also had a company logo written in Chinese characters, said one of the workers, who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss sensitive matters. The use of Chinese operators in the Shan mines and transportation of the output to China mirrors a similar system in Kachin, where entire hillsides stand scarred by leaching pools. Chinese mining firms can produce heavy rare earth oxides in low-cost and loosely regulated Myanmar seven times cheaper than in other regions with similar deposits, said Neha Mukherjee of London-based Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. "Margins are huge." Beijing tightly controls the technology that allows for the efficient extraction of heavy rare earths, and she said that it would be difficult to operate a facility in Myanmar without Chinese assistance. The satellite imagery suggest the Shan mines are smaller than their Kachin counterparts but they are likely to yield the same elements, according to Merriman, who serves as research director at consultancy Project Blue. "The Shan State deposits will have terbium and dysprosium in them, and they will be the main elements that (the miners) are targeting there," he said. STRATEGIC TOOL The UWSA oversees a remote statelet the size of Belgium and, according to U.S. prosecutors, has long prospered from the drug trade. It has a long-standing ceasefire with the junta but still maintains a force of between 30,000 and 35,000 personnel, equipped with modern weaponry mainly sourced from China, according to Ye Myo Hein, a senior fellow at the Southeast Asia Peace Institute. "The UWSA functions as a key instrument for China to maintain strategic leverage along the Myanmar-China border and exert influence over other ethnic armed groups," he said. Some of those fighters are also closely monitoring the mining area, said SHRF member Leng Harn. "People cannot freely go in and out of the area without ID cards issued by UWSA." Shan state has largely kept out of the protracted civil war, in which an assortment of armed groups are battling the junta. The fighting has also roiled the Kachin mining belt and pushed many Chinese operators to cease work. China has repeatedly said that it seeks stability in Myanmar, where it has significant investments. Beijing has intervened to halt fighting in some areas near its border. "The Wa have had now 35 years with no real conflict with the Myanmar military," said USIP's Myanmar country director Jason Towers. "Chinese companies and the Chinese government would see the Wa areas as being more stable than other parts of northern Burma." The bet on Shan's rare earths deposit could provide more leverage to China amid a global scramble for the critical minerals, said Benchmark's Mukherjee. "If there's so much disruption happening in Kachin, they would be looking for alternative sources," she said. "They want to keep the control of heavy rare earths in their hands. They use that as a strategic tool." (Additional reporting by the Beijing newsroom; Writing by Devjyot Ghoshal; Editing by Katerina Ang) 登入存取你的投資組合
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
In Myanmar's 'Abode of Kings', earthquake hits home of military power
By Poppy McPherson and Shoon Naing (Reuters) - On Thursday night, Myanmar junta leader Min Aung Hlaing stood astride a jeep, touring columns of saluting soldiers as fighter jets shot flares and helicopters buzzed overhead in an annual display of military might in the capital, Naypyitaw. The general was riding high, set to join a regional leaders' summit in Thailand this week, a rare overseas trip four years after seizing power in a coup that ushered in a ruinous civil war and made him an international pariah. But within 24 hours, a 7.7 magnitude earthquake had reduced parts of Naypyitaw to ruins, dealing a major blow to the home of Myanmar military power in the purpose-built, isolated capital whose Burmese name means "Abode of Kings". Without electricity, water or internet, junta officials are working from the lawns beside the ruins of the foreign ministry while residents sleep on the street for fear of aftershocks. The quake – Myanmar's strongest in a century – has killed around 2,000 people and dealt widespread devastation including in Naypyitaw, a city unveiled in 2005 after being secretly built by previously ruling generals who wanted an impregnable fortress. The city was built to evoke the grandeur of ancient Buddhist architecture and former royalty, with wide manicured boulevards including a little-used 20-lane highway and monumental government buildings with colonnades. It had stood mostly protected from the chaos of civil war that has rocked other parts of the country since the coup: a rare drone attack last year was foiled. Satellite images and photos published by local media show collapsed hospitals and government housing compounds, while at least one ministry has been severely damaged. "Water is scarce, food scarcer," said a source in Naypyitaw who, like others, requested anonymity. "Electrical power is absent. Fuel, medicine, shelter – luxuries now." The damage extended to the giant presidential palace, where photos published by local media show the wreckage of a gold-lined spiral staircase and chandelier. A junta spokesman did not respond to requests for comment. MINISTRY DAMAGED The foreign ministry, shaped with other ministries like a scorpion's claws believed by some to augur good fortune, has suffered "severe damage" and fatalities, according to a U.N. official who spoke on condition of anonymity. The ministry is without power or water and everyone from the minister down is sitting and working at the entrance, the official said. State-run media showed a picture of the foreign minister, Than Swe, participating in an emergency meeting with regional counterparts on Sunday by video, sitting outside a visibly damaged building, curtains dangling from the frames of smashed-in windows. The ministry "tells us they are no longer in business, no comms or building," said a source with knowledge of the matter, adding that staff in Yangon, the former capital and biggest city, had been delegated responsibilities. Initial reports suggest damage to military infrastructure in Naypyitaw has been limited, said Morgan Michaels, Research Fellow for Southeast Asian Security and Defence at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. The airport control tower has crumbled, but aircraft hangars appear intact, he said. "Across the earthquake zone, roads are damaged, and this could impact logistics and deployments in the short term," Michaels said. "But so far it doesn't look like the earthquake will have dealt a serious blow to the military's fighting capacity, from a hardware and infrastructure standpoint." The military continued to bomb towns even in the aftermath of the disaster, an armed opposition group said on Sunday. Nonetheless, in Buddhist-majority Myanmar - where many ascribe deep astrological significance to natural disasters and successive military leaders have looked to prophecies to guide decisions – some may divine a symbolic blow. "Even for a rather superstitious country, Min Aung Hlaing is known to be particularly superstitious," said Horsey. "Even if he doesn't believe the earthquake is some form of karmic retribution, he knows that others in his inner circle and the military elite - and the country at large - may well draw that conclusion." FULL MORGUES The severe impact on Naypyitaw is likely part of the reason the junta quickly appealed for international aid, said Horsey. "Min Aung Hlaing also knows that this is a moment of considerable risk for his regime - his own patronage networks and the military elite are affected," said Horsey. Some commentators have said Naypyitaw appears to be receiving more assistance than the densely populated city of Mandalay and region of Sagaing where entire neighbourhoods were flattened and residents say there has been no visible signs of military mobilisation. But in the capital, too, residents described scenes of unabated suffering. It was mostly children and the elderly who died when several multi-storey buildings housing government staff collapsed during the quake, one resident told Reuters. They heard people among the debris but no help arrived to retrieve those trapped until the following evening. 'Rescue didn't arrive in time to so many places," she said. The next day, police came to retrieve the dead bodies. Meanwhile, the morgue is full, and has no electricity to keep bodies cold, so many rot on the street outside. "We didn't receive any food, water, or medical help yet," the resident said. "We are still living on the street outside our building."
Yahoo
29-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Myanmar quake struck mosques as minority Muslims gathered for Ramadan prayers
By Shoon Naing and Wa Lone (Reuters) - When Friday's powerful earthquake struck central Myanmar, Htet Min Oo was performing ritual ablutions before Ramadan prayers at a mosque next to his house in Mandalay. His home collapsed along with part of the mosque, trapping half his body with the rubble of a wall that buried two of his aunts. Residents raced to pull the aunts out, he said, but only one survived. Htet Min Oo, 25, said two uncles and his grandmother were also trapped under piles of concrete. With no heavy equipment available, he tried desperately to clear the rubble with his hands but could not shift it. "I don't know if they are still alive under the debris. After so long, I don't think there's any hope," he said on Friday. "There's too much rubble and no rescue teams have come for us," he added, his voice shaking as he broke into tears. Hundreds of Muslims are feared among the dead in Myanmar after the shallow quake struck as worshippers gathered at mosques for Friday prayers in the holy month. More than 50 mosques sustained damage, according to the shadow National Unity Government. 'I HAD TO LEAVE HIM BEHIND' A 39-year-old resident of the Mandalay region described harrowing scenes as he tried to save a man trapped under the debris of a collapsed mosque in Sule Kone village, but had to flee because of strong aftershocks. "I had to leave him behind ... I went in a second time to try to save him," he said, declining to be identified. "I retrieved four people with my own hands. But unfortunately, three were already dead and one died in my arms." He said 10 people had been killed there, and that they were among 23 who died at three mosques that were destroyed in the village. Government restrictions had prevented them being upgraded, he said. Muslims are a minority in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar and have been marginalised by successive governments, while ultranationalist groups and extremist monks have in recent years incited violence. Myanmar authorities have for decades made it difficult for Muslims to obtain permission to repair or build new mosques, according to 2017 report by the U.S. State Department, which said historic mosques have deteriorated because routine maintenance was denied. Buddhist buildings were also badly hit by the quake, with 670 monasteries and 290 pagodas damaged, according to the military government. It did not mention any mosques in its damage report. Reuters could not reach the mosques or verify the accounts of the collapses. One man, Julian Kyle, appealed on social media for heavy equipment to lift concrete pillars after the quake destroyed another Mandalay mosque. "Underneath the rubble, my family members and others were crushed and lost their lives," he posted. "We desperately want to recover their bodies." A resident from the town of Taungnoo about 370 km (230 miles) away said he was praying when one side of the Kandaw mosque caved in on two rows of men seated before him. "I saw so many people carried out from the mosque, some of them died right before my eyes," he said. "It was truly heartbreaking."
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Yahoo
Explainer-What are Southeast Asia's scam centres, and why are they being dismantled?
By Shoon Naing (Reuters) - Scam centres that operated along the Thai-Myanmar border for years have drawn fresh attention after the high-profile abduction and release of a Chinese actor in Thailand. The incident sparked a multi-national effort among Thailand, China and Myanmar to dismantle the centres in a network of scam compounds across Southeast Asia. Criminal gangs have trafficked hundreds of thousands of people to such centres to help generate illicit revenues running into billions of dollars a year, the United Nations says. See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. WHAT ARE THEY? Scam centres, particularly those in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar run illegal online schemes to defraud people. Scammers often reach out to victims on social media and messaging applications to build online relationships before luring them into making fraudulent investments, such as in cryptocurrencies, a scheme commonly known as "pig butchering". Money laundering and illegal gambling operations are also run from some sites, analysts say. The main focus of the current crackdown is Myanmar's Myawaddy region, along the Thai border, where scam centres often enjoy the protection of armed groups such as the Karen National Army (KNA) and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA). WHEN DID THEY START? Scams in the region originated from loosely regulated casinos and online gambling, beginning in the 1990s and gathering pace in the 2000s, the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) says. Shwe Kokko, a major scam compound in Myawaddy, was set up in 2017 by the Hong Kong-registered Yatai International Holdings Group and the precursor of the KNA, then under control of the Myanmar military, and advertised as a casino destination, USIP said in 2020. The company has denied involvement in any criminal activities, including human trafficking. Scamming operations in Myanmar's borderlands have expanded significantly in the last few years. A think tank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said criminal groups sought new sources of profits when the lockdowns and strict border controls brought by the COVID-19 pandemic prevented gamblers from travelling. "Many repurposed the facilities into cyber-scamming compounds," it added. WHO OPERATES THEM? Criminal networks primarily originating from China are known to operate scam centres and, in Myanmar's Myawaddy region, armed groups such as the KNA also support operations, USIP says. Some foreigners brought out of Myawaddy say coercion and torture are rife in the scam compounds. Junta-aligned groups also ran or supported scuh centres along Myanmar's northern border with China, much to Beijing's frustration. Some were caught up in fighting as anti-junta rebels launched the "Operation 1027" offensive in 2023. A 2023 Reuters investigation traced at least $9 million linked to "pig butchering" scams to an account registered to a well-connected representative of a Chinese trade group in Thailand. WHAT IS THE LATEST CRACKDOWN? Some regional nations have stepped up efforts to break up the compounds. Thailand has cut power, fuel and internet links to areas in Myanmar linked with scam centres. The current crackdown was triggered by the January abduction of Chinese actor Wang Xing in Thailand, which set off a social media uproar in his home country. Though he was later found in Myawaddy and swiftly sent home, the incident sowed concern in Thailand, where Chinese visitors are critical to the lucrative tourism industry. Inside Myanmar, the junta has detained more than 3,700 foreign nationals related to scam centres since the end of January with more than 750 sent home, state media say. Last month, China flew home some 200 citizens from Thailand's city of Mae Sot, which borders Myawaddy. About 7,000 people, most of them Chinese nationals extricated from scam compounds are still sheltering in camps run by the KNA and DKBA. The Thai crackdown has also widened to Cambodia, where authorities rescued more than 215 people from a scam compound.
