Hpakant scenes: scarred landscapes, jade scavenging and drug use

By Htet Khaung Linn 

HPAKANT (Myanmar Now) - The Hpakant jade mines in Kachin State are believed to be Myanmar’s most valuable natural resource, with some estimates suggesting jade worth as much as US$31 billion is being extracted annually.
Little of this money ends up impoverished, conflict-torn Kachin State, as a web of hidden license-holders, often with links to the military, reap the mines’ benefits.
On the ground, the environmental damage has worsened after a decade of large-scale mining by dozens of companies. Hpakant now appears as a barren moonscape where whole mountains have been turned into rubble.
Among this rubble toil an estimated 300,000 migrant labourers who came from all over Myanmar. They chase the dream of getting rich by finding a big jade stone, but many end up drug addicted while scores are killed in accidents at the poorly regulated mines.
Myanmar Now reporter Htet Khaung Linn visited Hpakant in April and his photo capture some of the scenes.

Tharyargone Village, right, was once surrounded by mountains that were reduced to rubble and is now perched dangerously on a cliff. (Photo: Htet Khaung Linn / Myanmar Now)

Use of imported heavy machines, many of them unlicensed, has sped up mining and changed the landscape dramatically. (Photo: Htet Khaung Linn / Myanmar Now)

Large mining trucks appear tiny in Hpakant’s deep mining pits. (Photo: Htet Khaung Linn / Myanmar Now)

Hpakant mining pits become lakes after the rains, which can be heavy here. (Photo: Htet Khaung Linn / Myanmar Now)

Dozens of migrant labourers are seen scavenging mining waste for jade. (Photo: Htet Khaung Linn / Myanmar Now)

  
Labourers use small hammers mounted on sticks to hit rocks and determine if they contain jade. (Photo: Htet Khaung Linn / Myanmar Now)

 Labourers shine a flashlight on a jade boulder to determine its quality. (Photo: Htet Khaung Linn / Myanmar Now)

 Dirty huts are used to consume opium and heroin, which is widely used among Hpakant’s labourers. (Photo: Htet Khaung Linn / Myanmar Now)

  
Addicted jade miners inject heroin in Hpakant, which is openly used and sold. (Photo: Htet Khaung Linn / Myanmar Now)