The history of Burma’s jade mines in the West is a brief one. While hundreds of different reports, articles and even books exist on the famous ruby deposits of Mogok, only a handful of westerners have ever made the journey to northern Burma’s remote jade mines and wrote down their findings. Occidental accounts of the mines make their first appearance in 1837. Although in 1836, Captain Hannay obtained specimens of jadeite at Mogaung during his visit to the Assam frontier (Hannay, 1837), Dr. W.Griffiths (1847) was the first European to actually visit the mines, in 1837 (Griffiths, 1847).

This report includes a situation update submitted to KHRG in July 2012 by a community member describing events occurring in Nyaunglebin District, during July 2012. It describes the Norwegian government's plans for a development project in Kheh Der village tract, which is to support the villagers with their livelihood needs.

Executive Summary"
"A scramble for natural gas presently unfolding in western Burma is poised to provide the ruling military junta with its single largest source of income. The sale of the gas, mainly to regional neighbours, will further entrench the junta, insulating it from international pressure. The country's already abysmal human rights situation is set to worsen.

Carries a copy of "Grave Diggers" (no search engine so go to publications and browse). Good links page.

Interesting to compare the Burmese 1994 Mining Law with those of other Asian countries (see analysis of the 1994 Mining Law in "Grave Diggers" by Roger Moody, which is on the OBL shelves).

Active in promoting mining in Burma. "The Metal Mining Agency of Japan (MMAJ) is a semigovernmental
organization under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of International
Trade and Industry and the main organization that executes the
Japanese Government's policies related to the mining industry. Since
its establishment in 1963, the Agency has been conducting various
exploration operations for mineral resources both within and outside
Japan, and other worldwide activities, such as technical cooperation in

In recent months, both China and India have signed agreements with the Burmese military junta
indicating their willingness to buy gas from the proposed Shwe gas project in western Burma,
with Thailand also expressing interest. If built, the Shwe project would be Burma’s largest gas
development project ever. Matthew Smith and Naing Htoo analyse the events surrounding the
recent agreements and the inevitable consequences if the project were to proceed...

Executive Summary: "This report describes how human rights and environmental abuses continue to be
a serious problem in eastern Pegu division, Burma – specifi cally, in Shwegyin
township of Nyaunglebin District. The heavy militarization of the region, the indiscriminate
granting of mining and logging concessions, and the construction of
the Kyauk Naga Dam have led to forced labor, land confi scation, extortion, forced
relocation, and the destruction of the natural environment. The human consequences

WITH SUBSTANTIAL SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS, INCLUDING A PHOTO ESSAY...Selected Land and Livelihood Impacts Along the Shwe Natural Gas and China-Myanmar Oil Transport Pipeline from Rakhine State to Mandalay Division..."Yesterday, we published a photo essay and companion report highlighting the severe impacts of the Shwe natural gas and Myanmar-China oil transport pipelines on the lives and livelihoods of local communities living around these mega-projects.

Summary:

Thousands gathered in Namhkam, Shan State, on Friday morning to protest against commercial mining operations.

The locals said that large-scale silica mining projects have resulted in permanent damage to streams and farmlands, ultimately ruining the livelihoods of thousands of people in the township.

Demonstrators convened at the Nam Seere bridge at around 8am, then marched to downtown Namhkam shouting slogans...