In a village in Kachin State, Myanmar, bordering China’s Yunnan province, a day laborer named Naw had earned just enough in the sugarcane and cornfields to feed his family of six before pandemic-induced border closures left him struggling to find work. A February 2021 military coup sent Myanmar’s economy into a downward spiral, and Naw had to search for new ways to earn an income.
He traveled 60 miles west, passing through verdant forests, rice paddies, and small villages of bamboo houses. Reaching Bhamo, a town on the banks of the Irrawaddy, Myanmar’s longest river, he began mining gold and earning $4 per day. He uses a generator-powered pump to suction up sediment, then sends it through a sluice tray before adding mercury — which he handles barehanded — to extract gold.
Naw estimates he is one of 1,000 people mining gold in Bhamo alone. Other areas across Kachin State are experiencing a similar influx — part of a broader resource grab as Myanmar’s economic crisis deepens, rule of law breaks down, and civil war intensifies in the wake of the coup.
Read more at: Yale Environment 360
A gold-dredging boat on the Mali River in Kachin State, Myanmar.