Kachin State is the northernmost state of Myanmar. It is bordered by China to the north and east, Shan State to the south, and Sagaing Region and India to the west. It lies between north latitude 23° 27' and 28° 25' longitude 96° 0' and 98° 44'. The area of Kachin State is 89,041 km2 (34,379 sq mi). The capital of the state is Myitkyina. Other important towns include Bhamo, Mohnyin and Putao.
A mining accident is an accident that occurs during the process of mining minerals or metals. Thousands of miners die from mining accidents each year, especially from underground coal mining, although accidents also occur in hard rock mining. Coal mining is considered much more hazardous than hard rock mining due to flat-lying rock strata, generally incompetent rock, the presence of methane gas, and coal dust. Most of the deaths these days occur in developing countries, and rural parts of developed countries where safety measures are not practiced as fully. A mining disaster is an incident where there are five or more fatalities.
A spoil tip is a pile built of accumulated spoil – waste material removed during mining. Spoil tips are not formed of slag, but in some areas, such as England and Wales, they are referred to as slag heaps. In Scotland the word bing is used. In North American English the term is mine dump or mine waste dump.
The Astley Deep Pit disaster was a mining accident at the Astley Deep Pit, in Dukinfield, Cheshire, England, that took place on 14 April 1874, killing 54 men and boys. Astley Deep Pit was a coal mine started around 1845 to work the seam of coal known as the "Lancashire Black Mine". When finished, it was supposedly the deepest coal-mine in Britain and cost £100,000 to sink.
Hpakant is a town in Hpakant Township, Kachin State in the northernmost part of Myanmar (Burma). It is located on the Uyu River 350 km north of Mandalay. It is famous for its jade mines which produce the world's best quality jadeite.
The Marcopper mining disaster is one of the worst mining and environmental disasters in Philippine history. It occurred on March 24, 1996, on the Philippine island of Marinduque, a province of the Philippines located in the Mimaropa region. The disaster led to drastic reforms in the country's mining policy.
The Minnie Pit disaster was a coal mining accident that took place on 12 January 1918 in Halmer End, Staffordshire, in which 155 men and boys died. The disaster, which was caused by an explosion due to firedamp, is the worst ever recorded in the North Staffordshire Coalfield. An official investigation never established what caused the ignition of flammable gases in the pit.
The Kachin conflict or the Kachin War is one of the multiple conflicts which are collectively referred to as the internal conflict in Myanmar. Kachin insurgents have been fighting against the Tatmadaw since 1961, with only one major ceasefire being brokered between them, which lasted from 1994 to 2011, a total of 17 years.
The jade trade in Myanmar consists of the mining, distribution, and manufacture of jadeite—a variety of jade—in the nation of Myanmar (Burma). The jadeite deposits found in Myanmar's northern regions are the source of the highest quality jadeite in the world, noted by sources in China going as far back as the 10th century. Chinese culture places significant weight on the meaning of jade; as their influence has grown in Myanmar, so has the jade industry and the practice of exporting the precious mineral.
The following lists events that happened during 2015 in the Republic of the Union of Myanmar.
On 21 November 2015, a major landslide in Hpakant, Kachin State, northern Myanmar killed at least 116 people near a jade mine, with around 100 more missing.
On 22 April 2019, a landslide triggered the collapse of a jade mine near Maw Wun Kalay, Hpakant, Kachin State, Myanmar, trapping at least 54 miners. The deaths of four miners were confirmed, along with the later deaths of two rescue workers. The remaining miners are presumed to be dead.
Events of 2020 in Myanmar.
2021 (MMXXI) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2021st year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 21st year of the 3rd millennium and the 21st century, and the 2nd year of the 2020s decade.
In the early morning of July 28, 2019, a landslide in a Hpakant jade mine killed at least 17 people, leaving others missing and two injured. The people killed were workers from Yarzahtarni Jade Mining Company, local police, and others unaffiliated with the mine.
The Semirara Mining and Power Corporation (SMPC) is a mining company based in the Philippines. The company, a subsidiary of DMCI Holdings, operates its main coal mine in Semirara Island and is the biggest coal producer in the Philippines accounting for 92 percent of the total national production as of 2015.
On December 22, 2021, a landslide occurred at a jade mine in the township of Hpakant in Kachin State, Myanmar. The landslide killed at least three people, and left at least 70 to 100 missing.
The 2023 Hpakant jade mine disaster occurred on August 13, 2023, when the Hpakant Jade Mines experienced the third documented landslide in the area. The landslide killed 32 people when tailings swept the miners into a nearby lake. Hpakant is located in Kachin, Myanmar. Myanmar is considered the sodium alumina silicate (jade) capital of the world because it has the highest concentration of jade. Hpakant provides 70% of the world's jade. It is estimated that Myanmar’s jade industry is worth more than 31 billion dollars annually, about half of its GDP. Despite the 1974 Nationalisation of Industry Act, most of Myanmar’s jade is sold illegally. Chinese companies work with the military to create untraceable Chinese-owned shell companies like Wai Kharmine. Myanmar’s jade industry is contentious because it degrades the environment, while supporting political turmoil by financially aiding the military junta (Tatmadaw) and ethnic militias.
