Residents protest NUG gold mining ban in Sagaing’s Banmauk

Hundreds of residents protested against Myanmar’s National Unity Government (NUG) in Banmauk Township of Sagaing Region on Monday, demanding small-scale mining rights for local communities and displaced people.The protest was held near Seu village in southern Banmauk Township from 10am to 12pm, with demonstrators calling for permission for artisanal miners to resume gold mining and for previously closed mining blocks to be reopened. The rally followed the NUG’s closure of gold mines in the area, about 20 miles south of Banmauk town, where small-scale mining has been banned since December. "They have been opening and closing it repeatedly since September,” a local man who participated in the protest told Myanmar Now. “Then on December 3, they closed it again, and it hasn't been reopened since.”According to sources in Banmauk, the NUG has granted mining rights to Tri Star Company and Shwe Sai Company at the Thone Myay Sone and Yone Taw mines, which are among the five major gold mines in southern Banmauk.Gold mining in Myanmar is largely informal and small-scale, employing thousands of people in rural areas where few other livelihoods exist. In regions like Sagaing, Kachin and Shan states, villagers and displaced people often rely on artisanal gold mining for basic income, using hand tools and small dredges to survive amid conflict, displacement and economic collapse. Tri Star Company and Shwe Sai Company companies had previously sub-allocated some plots to local residents living in the area, allowing them to mine on a share-cropping basis, while some locals also mined on a small-scale, independent basis.Sources said the mining companies would pay the artisanal miners a split cost per pit each month under the share-cropping system, which was shut down by the Natural Resources Management Committee in early December, triggering the protest. "It isn't easy for a single company to operate such a massive acreage with full machinery and manpower,” a local miner told Myanmar Now. “Furthermore, the company understands there are locals and IDPs here. To accommodate the people and lighten their tax burden, the company sub-allocated plots.” Dr. Tu Hkawng, the NUG Minister of Natural Resources, said that the closures were necessary because companies do not have the right to sub-allocate plots on land specifically granted to them. "They were operating on official company land through private arrangements with the companies, so we had to shut them down,” he told Myanmar Now. “Under our government policy, companies do not have the authority to sub-allocate plots like that.” Tu Hkawng added that there are many small-scale miners and that some locals have objected to the use of "open pit" mining methods. "Essentially, we are trying to maintain order to prevent chaos,” he said. “Right now, a lot of gold is being mined and pits are being dug without us even knowing. There are groups that want us to shut down these open-pit operations.” Tu Hkawng also noted that while artisanal miners could organise to apply for collective "medium-scale" blocks, some refuse to do so and instead prefer to operate as they wish by negotiating with local authorities."Natural resource management cannot satisfy everyone. Among the locals, some don't want the mining to happen, while others want to mine. Since we have to manage these situations, we can't make everyone happy," Tu Hkawng said.Myanmar Now sought comment from the NUG but received no response. Locals said residents and displaced people from surrounding townships depend on the Banmauk gold mines for income, while the NUG last year detained the former head of the local Natural Resources task force following complaints.Resistance forces, including the NUG, control southern parts of Banmauk Township, while the Shanni Nationalities Army, which has close ties to the junta, dominates the west. Although resistance forces captured Banmauk town late last year and held it for more than four months, joint junta–SNA forces launched a major counteroffensive and retook the town in recent days.Sources say the NUG has so far shown little willingness to grant exceptions for struggling miners, a stance locals describe as unjustified and harmful to their livelihoods. Artisanal miners claim the policy restricts applications to areas outside company-controlled blocks, which they claim contain little or no gold."The gold-bearing areas are all within the company zones,” a local miner in the area said. “Gold isn't found on every single mountain. If all the vacant areas have no gold, how are our people supposed to survive? To put it clearly, it’s like being told to dig a water well in the middle of a desert.”

Residents protest NUG gold mining ban in Sagaing’s Banmauk

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