That reverence is not shared by outsiders. Loi Kham has attracted growing interest from mining companies, including from four Chinese operators<\/a>. The sacred mountain has turned into a hub of unregulated and intensive extraction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey first arrived without modern technology, so they simply blasted the whole mountain\u201d Sai U said. They carved into the mountain\u2019s slopes, removing its crest, leaving behind a lunar landscape. Only recently were mineral vein detectors used for targeted drilling, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today, satellite images indicate more than 20 mining sites across eastern Shan state, spanning a combined area of roughly 1,780 hectares, according to our calculations. With little oversight, evidence suggests mining runoff routinely floods fields and homes during heavy rains, turning the Nam Kham dark and foul-smelling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Satellite imagery and witness accounts acquired by Mekong Eye and Dialogue Earth show a lack of containment infrastructure. The findings raise alarm over how unregulated mining in Myanmar\u2019s uplands may be contaminating water sources that extend far beyond its borders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/20250430_gold-mines-Shan-Province_Myanmar_map_EN.jpg\")
<\/div>Cyanide and mining<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Since Myanmar\u2019s 2021 coup, unregulated gold mining has surged across the country, from Indawgyi Lake<\/a>, a Unesco Biosphere Reserve in the north, to the Tanintharyi Nature Reserve<\/a> in the south, often encroaching on land abandoned by conflict-displaced communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cyanide compounds are widely used in gold mining to extract the metal from ore, a process known as gold cyanidation<\/a>. Miners spray a cyanide solution over ore heaps, dissolving the gold and leaving other minerals behind. Despite safer alternatives like thiosulphate, cyanide remains popular for its relatively low cost \u2013 especially in unregulated and illegal operations<\/a>. The gold-rich solution is collected in leaching ponds, often visible as rectangular marks in satellite images. Waste cyanide should be contained in lined tailings ponds \u2013 large, deep basins that typically cover a third of a mining site \u2013 to prevent environmental contamination.
Satellite photos obtained by Mekong Eye and Dialogue Earth show that gold mines in Loi Kham and across eastern Shan state lack basic tailings infrastructure. The images do not directly show contaminated water flowing into nearby streams. But the absence of any visible treatment facilities strongly suggests wastewater may be reaching waterways that feed Mekong tributaries, raising alarm over potential transboundary contamination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n