YANGON, MYANMAR — Chinese companies mining rare earth minerals in Myanmar’s Kachin State have promised to halt activities after more than 1,000 local residents protested, acknowledging the environmental damage caused by extracting the elements key to the production of many everyday tech-heavy devices such as smartphones.
The protesters came from more than 10 villages in the area controlled by the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), one of Myanmar’s most powerful ethnic groups, and its armed group, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA). The protests began in December after the KIO granted Chinese enterprises permission to mine in Kachin State in the area near the border with China’s Yunnan Province, witnesses told VOA Burmese. The most recent protest was Saturday.
