The Stone and the Conflict
The city of Myitkyina is a primary hub for one of the world's most lucrative and secretive natural resource trades. Nearly all of the world's finest jadeite—the rarer and more valuable of the two minerals called jade—is mined in the Hpakant region of Kachin State. From these mines, a trade network valued at up to US$31 billion in a single year (2014) channels the green stones through markets like this one before they are smuggled or sold, primarily to China. This figure represented nearly half of Myanmar's entire GDP at the time.
The jadeite itself is a sodium aluminium silicate, prized for its deep, translucent "imperial green" color. The vast majority of it comes from the Uyu Boulder Conglomerate, a geological formation that lies between 5 and 300 meters below the surface. Extracting it requires enormous industrial operations that have transformed the local landscape. Myitkyina's markets are where miners, military-affiliated companies, and brokers converge to buy and sell the raw, uncut stones, often before they enter the official record.
This wealth is a central driver of Myanmar's long-running civil war. The jade tract is a contested territory, with revenues funding both the national military (Tatmadaw) and ethnic armed organizations like the Kachin Independence Army (KIA). Control over mines, transport routes, and unofficial taxation points generates billions of dollars, creating powerful incentives for all armed groups to maintain their stake in the industry and prolong the conflict.
The Human and Environmental Cost
The multi-billion-dollar valuation of the jade trade contrasts with the conditions for the estimated 400,000 people who work as artisanal miners. They often labor in perilous conditions, picking through massive heaps of waste rock discarded by large-scale mining operations. These unstable mounds, hundreds of feet high, frequently collapse, especially during the rainy season. Landslides have become common, with one event in 2015 killing at least 113 people and another in 2020 claiming over 160 lives.
Industrial mining has created a devastated landscape around Hpakant, the source of the jade sold in Myitkyina. Mountains have been disassembled, forests cleared, and water sources polluted with mining waste. The community has also been strained by the influx of hundreds of thousands of migrant workers, leading to widespread problems with drug addiction and crime.
The revenue that flows through the Myitkyina markets is part of a global system. The military's control over the formal gemstone industry provides it with a vast source of off-budget funding, blunting the impact of international sanctions. Researchers have documented how the trade enables money laundering and is intertwined with other illicit economies, making the jade sold here a conflict mineral.