The people in this northern Myanmar forest have lost a way of life that goes back generations. But if they complain, they, too, face the threat of death.
The AP investigation drew on dozens of interviews, customs data, corporate records and Chinese academic papers, along with satellite imagery and geological analysis gathered by the environmental non-profit Global Witness, to tie rare earths from Myanmar to the supply chains of 78 companies. Just as dirty rare earths trickle down the supply chains of companies, they also slip through the cracks of regulation.
With no regulation or alternatives, companies have quietly continued shipping rare earths without environmental, social and governance audits, known as ESG. For decades the industry prospered. China became the world's foremost miner of rare earths. A Beijing magazine called the profits “more addictive than drugs.”
China is also responding to competition from Europe and its greatest rival, the United States, which has called its dependence on rare earths from China a “national security risk.” Concerned that its shrinking reserves could allow Western countries to break its stranglehold on the industry, China encouraged companies to look abroad.
“It reminds me of the European colonial attitudes towards Africa,” said an industry analyst, speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid damaging ties with the Chinese government. “You just can't be relying on third-world-type mining practices in a dictatorship like Myanmar. It's not sustainable.”In 2019, he got a call. An old contact was opening up shop in Myanmar and needed a technician.
A few years ago, there were just two or three mines in Myanmar, then dozens. Today there are hundreds, and Guo guesses there may soon be thousands. At this pace, he predicts, it won't be long before Myanmar's rare earths are all gone.“They talk about future generations, I'm talking about survival today,” he said. “We just see if we can make money. It's that simple.”
A villager who lives along a river some 15 miles from the center of the mining sites said his wife used to catch and sell fish. Now the few they can catch make them ill, so they must buy from elsewhere at higher prices instead. Every time he enters the water, his feet feel itchy.
All these are caused by poverty and underdevelopment, it's not directly linked with any special industry. Human traffic, drug smuggling, scam rings, you name it. Helping them out to develop their local economies would be a better alternative than lecturing.
Crickets from the climate cult.
Hey, it's a sacrifice they can suffer, so we can have batteries for our EVs!
The “green economy” hard at work!
Who cares, maybe do some actual journalism as talk about young healthy people dropping dead, or how the leading cause of deaths now are 'unknown'. You can't hide the truth forever.
Maybe we should cut it back lol
Where are the climate alarmist. . isn't this what they want
But Electrics help the planet. No they don't. You have been fooled. Now take your experimental gene therapy clot injections every 9 months
When you realize the green energy movement is a scam, hoax and much worse than oil. The animals that die from the lithium and mineral toxic pits. Maybe George Soros will fund Leonardo Dicrapio to private jet fly an anti child labor campaign to demonize this. Yeah right
Green energy is the biggest scam since climate change.
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