Mining for gold at the predicted flood zones of the Myitsone dam project in Irrawaddy River in Burma’s northern Kachin State, has been given the go ahead by the military junta, said local sources close to gold mining firms.
The idea is to dig out gold from zones, which will be flooded before the dam construction begins or else the gold would be wasted, said sources close to local military authorities.
The permission for gold mining on the dam site has been given by the junta's Ministry of Mines. The regime is now calling on companies to submit gold mining permissions, said local businessmen.
The local military authorities have said that permission will be easily granted if they apply in the names of former Kachin ceasefire groups--- Lasang Awng Wa Peace Group and the New Democratic Army-Kachin (NDA-K), sources close to local companies said.The Lasang Awng Wa Peace Group, which split from Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) in 2004, officially transformed to two local militia groups under the control of the Burmese Army --- called the Gwi Htu and Lawa Yang with 30 men in each on October 16.
Likewise, the NDA-K, which split from the KIO in 1968, was also officially transformed to BGF with three battalions on November 8.
Since October, land and paddy field owners in Tang Hpre village at the Irrawaddy River confluence (Myitsone in Burmese and Mali-N'Mai Zup in Kachin), 27 miles north of Kachin's capital Myitkyina have been pressurized and threatened to sell their land to be excavated for gold, by officers of the Myitkyina District and Township Administrations (Kha-Ya-Ka and Ma-Ya-Ka in Burmese), according to Tang Hpre's villagers.
From early November, Chinese companies are into heavy gold mining activities with sophisticated machines in orange producing orchards and paddy fields in Mandawng, another predicted flood zone of the Myitsone dam under gold mining contract by former NDA-K leader Zahkung Ting Ying, said residents of Mandawng.
Mandawng is situated on the right bend of N'Mai Hka River, over 30 miles northeast of the Myitsone dam project. It is one of the main orange-producing regions in Kachin State.
Earlier, land, orchards and paddy field owners of Mandawng and its nearby village Sha-ngaw had been pressurized and threatened by Ting Ying, They were told the areas were in the predicted flood zone of Myitsone dam and the gold underground in their orchards and paddy fields would be wasted.
At the same time, Chinese businessmen are pouring in to the Myitsone dam projects for gold mining activities, said traders on the Sino-Burma border.
