News
Chinese traders prefer Hpakant over Mandalay gems market
Buyers from China have found it much easier to do business in the mines of Hpakant than in Mandalay’s Maha Aung Myay Gems Trading Centre, the city’s largest emporium which features more than 1000 shops, especially if they want to buy raw or uncut jades. “I have ...
Trouble brewing after giant jade rock seized and deemed state property
Tensions are rising between gem scavengers and the Taut Pa Kye Company in Hpakant township, Kachin State, after a huge jadeite found by scavengers was confiscated as it was said to be state-owned property. After the jadeite was discovered in the Taut Pa Kye Company work ...
Nine killed in Kachin jade mine landslide
A landslide in northern Myanmar’s jade mining region has killed 9 people, a local official said on February 11, the latest fatal incident to strike the shadowy billion-dollar industry. The men were believed to be searching for jade in Kachin State when a wall of unstable ...
Special rapporteur barred from Laiza, Hpakant
Just a few days into her fifth visit and the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar has already encountered a few bumps in the road, with the government blocking her from going to Laiza and Hpakant, in Kachin State. Yanghee Lee and her ...
Giant jade stone uncovered in Kachin State
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 ...