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‘The Sacrifice Zone’: Myanmar bears cost of green energy

A depiction of animals displaced by rare earth mining in Myanmar. (AP Illustration/Peter Hamlin) A map depicting Myanmar’s location next to China. (AP Illustration/Peter Hamlin) A depiction of a rare earth mining operation in Myanmar. (AP Illustration/Peter Hamlin) This early 2022 photo provided by Global Witness shows a border fence separating Pangwa in the Kachin state of Myanmar and China. Rare earths imports from Myanmar grew nearly a hundredfold in just the three years since 2015. By 2018, they made up nearly three-fourths of China’s heavy rare-earth-rich clay ore supply, according to the latest statistics available. (Global Witness via AP) This early 2022 photo provided by Global Witness shows Border Guard Force barracks in Myanmar's northern Kachin State, near rare earth mining sites. The Border Guard Forces are part of the Myanmar military and work with local militias to control the rare earth trade inside Myanmar, along the Chinese border. (Global Witness via AP) This early 2022 photo provided by Global Witness shows a sign for the New Democratic Party – Kachin in the village of Labang in the Kachin state of Myanmar. Notorious Kachin militia leader Zakhung Ting Ying is a patron of the party, which was founded in 2019. Zakhung Ting Ying runs the area along the Myanmar-Kachin border, where mining is taking place, as a fiefdom. The sign reads "New Democracy Party (Kachin), Maung Zone village, Chipwi township, Kachin state." (Global Witness via AP) In this early 2022 photo provided by Global Witness, a new rare earth mine is dug into the side of a mountain in Pangwa, Kachin, Myanmar. The region is close to the Chinese border and the home of hundreds of rare earth mining sites. Bleaching agents used in extracting rare earth elements have tainted tributaries of Myanmar's main river, prompted landslides and poisoned the earth, according to witnesses, miners and local activists. (Global Witness via AP) In this early 2022 photo provided by Global Witness, a truck drives through an area near Pangwa, Myanmar, near the border with China. Trucks like these are used to transport mined rare earth materials from Myanmar to China, where it will be processed and put into high tech products that end up on the international market. (Global Witness via AP) This early 2022 photo provided by Global Witness shows sacks of rare earth ores in Kachin, Myanmar, waiting for transport to China. Tracing the supply chains for rare earths is complicated, because they go through many layers of processing before ending up in a high tech product. (Global Witness via AP) This early 2022 photo provided by Global Witness shows rare earth ores burned down before being transported to China, at a site near mines in Myanmar. Bleaching agents used in extracting rare earth elements have tainted tributaries of Myanmar's main river, prompted landslides and poisoned the earth, according to witnesses, miners and local activists. (Global Witness via AP) This early 2022 photo provided by Global Witness shows a site near rare earth mines in the Kachin state of Myanmar, where ores are burned down before being transported to China. (Global Witness via AP) This 2022 satellite image provided by Planet Labs shows rare earth mining pools northwest of Myitkyina, Kachin, Myanmar near the border with China. In the wake of rare earth element mining, an AP investigation has found environmental destruction, the theft of land from villagers and the funneling of money to brutal militias with links to Myanmar's secretive military government. (Planet Labs via AP) In this early 2022 image from video provided by Global Witness, a creek in Myanmar's Kachin State is lined with trash, pipes and other construction materials from a former rare earth mining site. Local villagers have said water from the creek is no longer usable for drinking or growing crops and that their skin itches after being exposed to water near rare earth mining sites. (Global Witness via AP) In this 2022 image from video provided by Global Witness, holes are drilled into the side of a mountain in the Kachin state of Myanmar, to mine rare earth minerals. Ammonium sulphate solution is injected into the holes, effectively liquefying the earth. Once the chemicals have percolated through the mountainside, the solution is drained into bright blue collection pools, where minerals are precipitated out. (Global Witness via AP) In this early 2022 photo provided by Global Witness, a new rare earth mine is dug into the side of a mountain in Pangwa, Kachin, Myanmar. The region is close to the Chinese border and the home of hundreds of rare earth mining sites. In the wake of rare earth element mining, an AP investigation has found environmental destruction, the theft of land from villagers and the funneling of money to brutal militias with links to Myanmar's secretive military government. (Global Witness via AP)