"Junta meddling removes shine from domestic gem trade" 27 October 2022

This month, international buyers were invited to the 58th Gem Emporium in the military-dominated capital of Nay Pyi Taw, the fourth such spectacle held since the military seized power in February 2021. [...] This time around, Russian buyers were encouraged to attend, as the two isolated regimes find solace in each other’s support. [...]

Nearly a year after it seized power, the military’s State Administration Council issued a verbal order in early December 2021 to suspend all mining for jade and gems. The order resulted in most mines halting operations in the ruby-rich Mogok area of Mandalay Region, where there is a strong military presence. 

However, the order was largely ignored in the mixed-control Hpakant region of Kachin State, where some of the world’s finest imperial jade is mined, and where the Kachin Independence Army and the military are both active.

Most of the illegally-mined jade, unearthed by operators taking advantage of the unstable political situation, is sent direct to China via the Kanpiketee border gate in Kachin State, a gems trader told Frontier. [...]

As miners continue to send men into the pits of Hpakant, a series of spoil tip collapses have killed scores of gem pickers in the region since the coup. Environmental groups, drawing from aerial images showing the degradation of rivers and hillsides, have highlighted the significant environmental damage since the coup dismantled even the slightest of regulatory frameworks.

Unmonitored illegal mining and the shipment of high-quality jade to China means that Mandalay’s famous gem market is now limited to inferior quality stones plucked from tailings dumps by scavengers. [...]