The Downstream Effects of China's Rare Earth Mining

0:01Today on State of the World, the downstream effects of China's rare earth mining. You're listening to State of the World from NPR. We bring you the day's most vital international stories up close where they're happening. I'm Greg Dixon. China has a tight grip on the market for so-called rare earths, the elements that are a vital component in much of our technology today. And China has used its near monopoly as a bargaining chip in the trade war with the U.S. But the source for some of those rare earths and other heavy metals are China's neighbor, war-torn Myanmar. And the increase in production in Myanmar is causing environmental concerns downriver in neighboring Thailand.

0:44In today's episode, Michael Sullivan takes us there.

0:52The Wat Tathon Temple sits high above the tourist town of Tathon, along the Kok River on the border with Myanmar. And it's there I meet Presert Gaituan, a local school worker. He says residents first started noticing a problem with the river about two years ago, when a mine just across the border started production. The water got a little murky and a little itchy, but it wasn't too bad, he says, until a few months ago.

1:19In February, when the water usually starts to clear, he says, it didn't. And people started getting rashes. After realizing it was unsafe, we started to avoid it. The Thai Department of Pollution Control started testing the water and found arsenic levels four times the WHO limit and unsafe levels of other hazardous metals, too. Sixty miles from Taton is the city of Maesai, where Thai soldiers are constructing a flood barrier on the swiftly flowing Sai River, which forms the border between Thailand and Myanmar, where unregulated gold and rare earth miners have been especially busy near the border here, says Bundit Pantarakon.

2:02He's a local businessman and city council member. There are three mines closest to us. The nearest one is probably 10 kilometers upstream, then another about 20 kilometers, and the furthest around 40. You can see them on Google Earth, and they use the Tsai River itself to wash everything away. The local government tested the well water at six houses along the river, he says. All but one had arsenic levels well above the WHO limit. Both the Sai and the Kok eventually flow into Southeast Asia's most famous river, the Mekong, where authorities recently detected unsafe levels of arsenic there as well.

2:43Residents have been warned not to use the water from the rivers. Even elephant camps, a big tourist draw, won't let their animals bathe in it either. This is just the first chapter of the disaster that's going to happen to the people, population, around the Gok, along the Sai River, and along the Mekong. Pian Pondite is the regional campaign director for the NGO International Rivers. She says the ongoing civil war in neighboring Myanmar isn't helping. Brian Eiler, Southeast Asia Project Director for the Stimson Center, agrees. This is like the Wild West in the United States when you could go and mine anywhere.

3:22without any regulation and pollute as much as you want. And there's no one to stop that. I don't know how it can end. That's because the area in question is controlled by the United Hua State Army, a heavily armed ethnic militia tied to drug trafficking and illegal mining, with close ties to Beijing. The Hua militia declined comment for this story, even as it ramps up production for export to China. There is trade data showing exports of rare earth products, from Myanmar into China, and that's been growing significantly over the past several years, but now it seems much more diverse. David Merriman leads the rare earth team at market intelligence firm Project Blue.

4:06By some estimates, China now imports roughly half its rare earths from Myanmar. In part, Merriman says, because of Beijing enacting tougher environmental regulations at home, pushing Chinese firms to set up shop next door. The resulting environmental damage in Myanmar's northern Kuchin state has been well documented. In Shan state, it's just beginning, while China looks the other way. China is essentially saying, look, this is not our problem. This is your responsibility to operate mines, you know, how you operate in your country, but we will happily buy all your product. Activist Niuat Roy Kao lives on the Mekong.

4:46In 2022, he won the Goldman Environmental Prize for persuading the Thai government to scrap plans that would have allowed China to blast a stretch of rapids on the river to allow better access for Chinese cargo ships. He's also highlighted the environmental damage caused by China's damning of the Mekong and the problems it's created downstream for tens of millions who rely on the river for their livelihoods. But the threat posed by this unregulated mining, he says, is the worst yet. Yes, it's a catastrophe. It's a disaster. Because these are toxins and manifest rapidly and affect not only humans, but also animals and vegetation.

5:32And they get into the food supply. He says China is the only country with any influence over the Huawei militia and wants Beijing to use that influence to end the mining. Niwot is skeptical but hopeful and notes that China last month issued a statement saying it attached, quote, great importance to the issue, calling for resolution through friendly dialogue. Niwot says that's a start. For NPR News, I'm Michael Sullivan on the Mekong in northern Thailand.

6:12That's the State of the World from NPR. Thanks for listening.