A thread about the tragic loss of life in Myanmar’s Phakant jade mines. So far, 172 bodies have been recovered; dozens more are missing. While this is the most deadly single incident, deaths of informal “jade pickers” happen year after year. What will it take to change this? 1/14

The govt has announced the formation of an “investigation body” to look into the incident, find who was to blame, arrange compensation and “recommend action plans regarding security” to prevent future deaths. That final point on security is telling, and worrying... 2/14

It suggestes an assumption, also conveyed by State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, that the blame lies with the deceased, because they were working illegally and in defiance of mine closure orders. But that is to fundamentally misunderstand the nature of mining at Phakant. 3/14

(NOTE: If you want more info on this, I strongly recommend this excellent report by Min Zar Ni Lin and colleagues at CESD with @IGC_Myanmar @The_IGC. What follows draws on that report, as well as my own research on jade industry & illicit economies.) https://www.theigc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Lin-et-al-2019-Final-Report.pdf 4/14

There’s two kinds of mining at Phakant. (1) industrial mining at jaw-dropping scale and speed, that’s turned mountains into surreal moonscape. Why so fast? To get billions of $$ out of the ground while regulatory good times last. Photos by @minzayar88 https://library.panos.co.uk/features/stories/the-price-of-jade.html 5/14

That speed means environmental, safety catastrophe. No regulation, so tailings are dumped in vast unstable piles, whole mountains of waste that divert/block rivers, collect lakes of rainwater. That’s what you see collapsing in video of recent tragedy. 6/14 https://www.nytimes.com/video/world/100000007220738/myanmar-collapse.html?referringSource=articleShare#

Why so many casualties? Speed means lots of jade missed. Maybe 30% say industry experts. Not scraps. Hundreds of millions $$ per year. Hence, 2nd type of mining: “artisanal”. Individuals scrabbling through mountains of tailings to find missed jade. More @minzayar88 pics. 7/14

Artisanal mining also jaw-dropping scale. Involves >400,000 (yup) mostly young men. Average income $260 per month, with chance of striking it rich with lucky find. Jade pickers from poorest places in Myanmar, many Rakhine. For them, odds of death (1/1000??) maybe look ok. 8/14

Tempting to see these guys as criminals, taking risks, stealing jade for profit? Here’s the thing: the WHOLE INDUSTRY is criminal/illicit, with these guys at the bottom being exploited. I mean this very literally and soberly. 9/14

The industrial mining is illicit, as miners pay almost no taxes; the highest quality imperial jade they find is nearly all smuggled out of country. Multi-billion-$ industry benefits the state v little and local people carry only the cost. No good roads, schools, hospitals. 10/14

Jade picking also illicit, basically mafia operation. Jade pickers controlled by bosses; bosses report to super-bosses. Web of corruption and intimidation that benefits kingpins, KIO, AA armed groups, corrupt officials, military. These guys up the chain make biggest profit. 11/14

This means it’s VERY difficult to fix. Needs way more than govt “investigation body”. Any local efforts to limit jade picking/secure mine sites, result in intimidation of security, mine companies, authorities by bosses, who have 400k people as muscle. So can it be fixed?... 12/14

Absolutely. But this needs to be seen for what it is: a massive organised crime operation with collusion/involvement of elements of local administration, military and armed groups. Which means that... 13/14

...fixing it needs top level collaboration of govt, Tatmadaw, KIO at minimum. The same entities that directly/indirectly profit from status quo. Plus nat’l politics makes that kind of collaboration currently unimaginable. So desperate people at bottom of chain keep dying. 14/14