Rare-Earth Mine Collapse: EVs Killing People?

                (Based on staff posts from The Myanmar Now Media on 06 June 2024.)

On June-4 just last Tueday, the whole mountain-side on top of the largest Chinese Rare Earth Mine illegally operating inide Myanmar right near China-Burma borderline in the Kachin Land of Northern-Burma suddenly collapsed in an enormous landslide, killing at least 24 people and hundreds missing presumed dead.

The large rare-earth mine is located at five-mile-north of Panwar Village in the Chibwe Township of Kachin Land in Northern-Burma. The area is under the tight control of Panwar-People-Militia led by infamous Kachin elder named Za-Khum-Taint-Yein. Formerly a KIA senior officer he now is a lacquey of Myanmar Army.

The mine-land is jointly-and-officially controlled by the Panwar Miitia and Myanmar-Myo-Ko-Ko Mineral Eploration Pte based at Rangoon’s Tamwe Township. The area is internationally well known for a very-large deposite of Rare-Earth minerals. Ther are more than 300 small mines operated by the natives there, but the largest is controlled by Chinese.

The collapsed Chinese Mine had produced more than 14 million US$ worth of rare-earth minerals (used in making the permanent-magnets for EVs and wind-turbines) in the year 2023 alone. Two Chinese superviors were among the confirmed deaths and their bodies are already taken back across the border to China.

(Myanmar is the third-largest Rear-Earth Producer in the world after China and America, even the mining-giants Australia and Russia are behind Myanmar.)

History of Panwar Rare-Earth Mine

Panwar Mine is located on the mountain range by the Burma-China-Borderpost No-3 in the far-north-east Burma. The local Kachin warlord Za-Khum-Taint-Yein had beeen given this mountainous border region in 1990 as the Kachin-special-Adminitrative-Region-1 by the Myanmar Army to reign as his feud.

Previously he was a junior officer in KIA (Kachin Independence Army) from 1963 to 1967 till he and his band of KIA-Kachins joined with BCP (Burma Communist Party) in 1968 and he became the leader of BCP’s war-region-101.

After the sudden implosion and eventual collapse of BCP in 1989 he reformed his renegade-Kachin band as the NDA-K (New Democratic Army-Kachin) and signed a peace-agreement with the Myanmar Army in 1990 and he was given the Panar Region as the Kachin-special-Administrative-Region-1.

In 2009 he reformed his NDA-K as the Panwar-People-Militia with three border guard battalions, and since has been milking the resource-rich land he basically owns as his feud. The mining and exporting-to-China of rare-earth minerals alone is a billion dollar business for him as tens of thousand-tons have been exported to China every year.

19,500 tons of rare-earth minerals were exported to China in 2021, more than 30,000 tons in 2022, and 41,700 tons in 2023. The rare-earth minerals are heavily used in making EVs, wind-turbines, mobile phones, and computers.

What are rare earths?

Rare earths are a group of 15 elements in the periodic table known as the Lanthanide series. Rare earths are categorised into Light Rare Earths (lanthanum to samarium) and Heavy Rare Earths (europium to lutetium).

They are key enablers for technologies looking to lower emissions, reduce energy consumption, as well as improve efficiency, performance, speed, durability, and thermal stability. They are also a key component in technologies that seek to make products lighter and smaller.

Rare earths react with other metallic and non-metallic elements to form compounds each of which has specific chemical behaviours. This makes them indispensable and non-replaceable in many electrical, optical, magnetic, and catalytic applications.

Rare earth elements are relatively plentiful in the earth’s crust, however, because of their geochemical properties, rare earth elements are typically dispersed. This means they are not often found in concentration to make them viable to mine. It was the scarcity of these minerals that led to them being called rare earths.

The high grade of West-Autralian Lynas’ Mt Weld deposit and very low level of naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM) in the surrounding material sets Mt Weld apart and is a key element of Lynas’ success.

Rare Earths are used in the manufacture of many things we use every day – from smart phones to electric windows, power steering and catalytic converters in cars. Rare earths are also used in future facing applications such as robotics, home automation and green technologies such as hybrid and electric vehicles and wind turbines.

How are rare earths used in electric vehicles and wind turbine? How are rare earths different from battery metals?

Answer: Rare earths are used in high performance permanent magnet motors. Rare earth magnetic motors convert the electricity that is stored in a battery into motion. This could be the motion to make the four wheels of an electric vehicle turn. Rare earths are also used to turn motion into electricity, for example, in a wind turbine.

Facts about rare earth elements: A single smartphone contains approx. 8 different rare earth materials. Rare Earth Elements are not rare in the earth’s crust – but they’re rarely found in commercial concentrations as they are in the Mt Weld deposit. Rare earths make cars greener – Cerium (Ce) is used in catalytic converters to reduce exhaust gas pollution.