NLD lawmaker: ‘They are now operating the jade mines around the clock’
During the 8 November elections, Khin Maung Myint, 65, won an upper house parliament seat for the National League for Democracy in Kachin State’s Hpakant District, an area that has long been famous for its jade mines. The newly elected MP spoke with Myanmar Now about the industry’s heavy social and environmental impacts, and how these should be addressed.
The jade trade is highly profitable but who controls it has been shrouded in secrecy, while most raw jade flows across Myanmar’s northern border, untaxed, to China.
