Myanmar: Water and soil tests reveal heavy metal contamination in areas where rare earth are mined, primarily for export to China
"Kachin, a Sacrifice Zone for the Green Transition" EarthRights International, 1 May 2025
It is estimated that widespread mining of heavy rare earth elements (HREE), especially terbium and dysprosium, began in Kachin state in 2017. These HREE are used primarily in high-performance NdFeB magnets
While the supply chain for Kachin’s HREE is opaque, open-source data [...] confirms all official imports are made by companies registered in China [...]. A Chinese state-owned conglomerate called the China Rare Earth Group has a monopoly on the processing of China’s HREE, and its subsidiaries and associated companies import HREE from Myanmar.
In 2024, EarthRights and BRIDGE collected water and soil samples from areas impacted by rare earth mining. Testing and analysis [...] concluded in a report released in April 2025 that creeks in [...] were severely polluted [...].
Exposure to these pollutants can also lead to a variety of health issues [...]. This is a breach of the right to water, the right to health, the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, and, with pollution of this severity, the right to life itself.
Testing [...] also found limited surface soil pollution, suggesting that contaminants [...] may be moving into creeks through subsurface migration or are being directly discharged into local waterways. Subsurface migration would mean widespread contamination of the water table.
Rare earth mining in Kachin [...] weakens the soil and increases the frequency of landslides. [...] In June 2024, two landslides at HREE mining sites killed at least 35 workers [...] Mine workers are also exposed to harmful chemicals [...] with deaths of mine workers, including children, being attributed by their family members to this exposure.
In late 2024, the KIO and its armed wing, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), took control of all HREE mining in Myanmar.
While OECD Guidance in these circumstances is unclear, companies should either disengage from supply chains likely to contain rare earths from Kachin or treat the KIO/A as a legitimate governance actor and engage with it accordingly.