Ta’ang group lets small mining operations resume in Myanmar’s best-known ruby town

The Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) has lifted restrictions on small-scale mining operations in the gemstone-producing town of Mogok, Mandalay Region, which it has controlled since July, a TNLA spokesperson said this week. After banning the large mining operations previously monopolised by military-owned or military-connected entities, the TNLA began to permit small-scale operations in September, TNLA spokesperson Lway Yay Oo told Myanmar Now yesterday. “We’ve opened it up mainly for small-scale operations and artisan miners, primarily to help people meet their basic needs,” she said. Small-scale miners are required to pay taxes at rates set by the TNLA and follow established regulations, according to Lway Yay Oo. The tax rates have yet to be determined and the number of mining sites currently in operation is unconfirmed. The current number of permitted mining sites and tax rates are not yet known. Residents of Mogok can submit applications for mining licenses to the relevant administrators operating under the TNLA, Lway Yay Oo said. Mining permits will be valid for one year from the date of issue. A miner seen working in a ruby mine in Mogok Township in 2019. (Photo - AFP) The TNLA previously prohibited mining at abandoned or undeveloped sites without the property owners’ permission, as well as forbidding miners from activity on neighbouring claims. They also forbade mining operations at and near water sources, at religious sites, on village lands, or in forest reserves. A Mogok resident said there were miners in Mogok operating with what locals call “single-engine" machines. “I haven't gone to check personally, so I don't know much. People are working though,” he said. “Large machines aren't allowed yet. Just small-scale operations. Only single-engine machines.” While the TNLA has said they are granting mining rights to locals, the leading positions at mining sites located in territory captured from the military are allegedly being given to people affiliated with powerful ethnic armed organisations like the TNLA and its allies, according to woman who monitors resource extraction, citing what she had heard from Mogok locals. The groups include the Arakan Army (AA), United Wa State Army (UWSA), and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA)—also known as the Kokang Army—as well as the TNLA, she said. She spoke about the importance of prioritising locals and developing procedures appropriate to each specific geographic region. “Natural resources belong to the public. However, if local people in the area don't receive any benefits from these resources despite them being called public property, then this is just resource piracy,” she said. Profits should be reinvested in the area where the extraction took place, she said, and it will be important to avoid the kind of wanton, monopolistic extraction that had previously been the norm. TNLA spokesperson Lway Yay Oo said they are developing policies to ensure gemstone, rare earth minerals and other natural resources benefit the region and the public, and large-scale mining operations are suspended until these policies are finalised. Since private mining permits were allowed in the 1990s, the TNLA is investigating mining operations, their management, and past profit-sharing arrangements made with the Myanmar military-owned entities Myanma Economic Holdings Limited (MEHL), Myanma Economic Corporation (MEC), and various military-linked crony companies. The TNLA is currently enforcing a ban on junta-affiliated mining companies. According to records obtained by Myanmar Now, various businesses including the Ruby Dragon and Yadanar Shin mining companies are banned from mining in TNLA-controlled areas. The group has banned extractive operations at various sites including Pyaung Pyin village’s Wun Hta Yan Gae mine, the Mogok Pauk mine, and the Vagar forest reserve. A list of companies the TNLA administration has banned from mining and sites where mining is prohibited in territories under their control (Supplied) Ruby Dragon is owned by Nay Win Tun, the deputy commander-in-chief of the junta-allied ethnic armed group Pa-O National Army (PNA), the armed wing of Pa-O National Organisation (PNO). The company was among the top 10 nationwide in 2018 as measured by control of gemstone mining sites and production volume. According to a 2021 report by the investigative group Global Witness entitled “Conflict Rubies”, Nay Win Tun had co-owned three joint venture gemstone mining operations with the state-owned Myanma Gems Enterprise in Mogok, as well as a mine in Mong Hsu and a gemstone cutting factory in Naypyitaw. According to the report, junta-linked companies had rights to at least 17 mining sites in the Mogok area. Lway Yay Oo said the TNLA has stopped all these operations. The Myanmar military-owned MEHL held controlling shares in eight gemstone companies at the time of the coup, and MEC and MEHL topped the list of entities owning the most gemstone mining sites and producing the greatest volume of gemstones in 2018, respectively. A gemstone from the Mogok area being inspected in 2019 (Photo AFP) Starting at the end of June this year, as part of a resumed offensive against the military, the TNLA initiated assaults on military bases in northern Shan State and Mandalay Region, seizing all of Mogok Township less than a month later. In Myanmar, rubies are primarily extracted from two areas: Mong Hsu in southern Shan State and Mogok, accounting for over 90 percent of total production. Losing Mogok represented not only a territorial and strategic loss for the junta but also a significant economic blow. Based on output calculations from 2014 to 2017, Global Witness estimated the gemstone industry to have been worth between US $415 million and $436 million annually from 2014 to 2017. If extralegal mining is included, the value of the entire industry could have been between $1.7 billion and $2 billion during that period, according to the Global Witness report.

Ta’ang group lets small mining operations resume in Myanmar’s best-known ruby town

While Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) spokespersons said the group was prioritising local people by granting them mining rights, an extractive industries expert said they had been favouring their own networks and allies

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