Valley of Darkness, a new report by undercover local researchers, exposes how Burma’s military junta is promoting extensive gold-mining in the Hugawng Valley Tiger Reserve in northern Kachin State, devastating not only the environment but also local communities.

The junta has expanded control of the valley, confiscating farmlands and homes to accommodate its military infrastructure, and selling off vast tracts as gold-mining concessions. The valley’s forests and waterways are now being ravaged by over 100 hydraulic and pit mines using mechanized pumps and dredges and dumping mercury-contaminated tailings. Thousands of desperate migrants from all over Burma are working in squalid mining communities throughout the once pristine valley, where drug addiction and HIV/AIDS have become rampant.

“Under the regime’s increased control, the rich resources of Hugawng valley have turned out to be a curse.” said Tsa Ji, one of the authors of the report. “Only the junta and a handful of businessmen are benefiting from the gold while the local people suffer the consequences.”   more »