Gemstone mining

The new Myanmar Mining Law could soon have regulatory teeth that support the implementation of the law and establish a state and Union power division in the licensing process, The Myanmar Times has learned. The Mines Rules, which will essentially provide the fine print details ...

Jade scavengers who have allegedly overrun mines operated by private companies in Hkamti township have been ordered to move out by the government, with a combat police battalion standing by to enforce the ban. ​The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation gave the itinerant ...

The minister in charge of mining in Myanmar’s conflict-ridden state of Kachin says it was a mistake for the United States to lift sanctions on the country’s notorious jade industry. Kachin lies at the heart of the “jade tract”, a small area that has deposits ...

Human rights groups on December 14 welcomed a decision by Thailand to close the country’s only active gold mine by the end of the year as the mine’s operator said it had laid off the employees. Thailand’s ruling junta on December 13 said it is suspending all ...

Gems traders in Mandalay plan to hold a protest tomorrow, calling on the government to take action to bolster the region’s slumping jade market. According to U Than Win, one of the protest’s leaders, the market for jade in Mandalay has been in decline for ...

A giant jade stone estimated to weigh 210 tons was uncovered in the jade mining hub of Hpakant in Kachin State last week and is now being guarded by police. “We can say it is the largest piece of jade ever unearthed in Myanmar,” confirmed U ...

More than 1000 jade mining companies will be forced by law to clean up their sites in Hpakant and Lone Khin mining areas in Kachin State once their permits have expired, the government says. U Win Htein, director general of the Department of Mines, under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation, told The ...

Industry insiders have blamed an economic slowdown in China, over-extraction in jade mines, and market uncertainty linked to the transition of power to a democratically elected government in Burma. More than 850 licenses have been issued to firms at over 8,000 sites since private companies ...

Deadly landslips have brought more death to Kachin State as two separate collapses in one day at the Hpakant jade mines claimed an unknown number of victims. Local residents fear as many as 30 people may have lost their lives. The first of the two landslides ...

A jade probe led by the government following several deadly accidents at mines in Kachin State has expanded its scope and is now being overseen by the Ministry of Home Affairs. The special investigative team, which was previously under the Ministry of the Environment, is looking into ...