• Burmese
Wednesday, June 18, 2025
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Irrawaddy
27 °c
Yangon
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
No Result
View All Result
The Irrawaddy
No Result
View All Result
Home Specials

Underground Mining in Dawei

Zue Zue by Zue Zue
March 15, 2017
in Specials
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0 0
A A
A mine worker pushes a cart carrying rocks. / Zue Zue / The Irrawaddy

A mine worker pushes a cart carrying rocks. / Zue Zue / The Irrawaddy

5.7k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

DAWEI, Tenasserim Division — Out of a tunnel at the foot of a towering cliff face, two men push a cart full of rocks, singing, and empty their quarry onto the ground.

Through the passageway, which is just three feet wide and six feet high, several shafts course off in different directions. At the end of one, three men drill through the rock wall, a torch illuminating the shadowy scene.

Splinters of rock hitting the ground follow the piercing ring of the drill. After a while, the three men switch off the tool and, seemingly exhausted, take a breather.

RelatedPosts

Myanmar Jade Hub Burns as Junta Counteroffensive Penetrates Hpakant

Myanmar Jade Hub Burns as Junta Counteroffensive Penetrates Hpakant

June 12, 2025
1.3k
Toxic Thailand Rivers Pinned on Myanmar Mines

Toxic Thailand Rivers Pinned on Myanmar Mines

June 11, 2025
709
China Lead Mine Weighs Heavily on Myanmar’s Padaung Ethnic Group

China Lead Mine Weighs Heavily on Myanmar’s Padaung Ethnic Group

June 11, 2025
679

“We have to drill until we find the vein,” says 35-year-old foreman Ko Thant Zin, wiping the sweat from his brow. “We take a rest after we reach the target place.”

The mine lies near the village of Bawa Pin, about 25 miles from Dawei in Tenasserim Division where Ko Thant Zin was born and raised. He has been working at the mines of Dawei Land Co. since he graduated almost 15 years ago, specializing in geology and so finding no better job than his current one, he says.

Tenasserim Division is rich in tin and tungsten, a hard, rare metal, and there are 18 mines in Dawei District. Owned by local businesswoman Daw Htay Htay Thu, Dawei Land Mining Co. mainly engages in underground tungsten mining.

Locally, underground mining is known as traditional manual mining, with expert skill key to the profession, explains Ko Thant Zin, and the safety of mine workers taking the utmost importance.

Any explosive material such as gunpowder has to be permitted by the government and is used to blow up the rock strata when it is too hard to be drilled. Dynamiting the strata can either involve lighting the gunpowder with an electric current or burning the safety fuse, the latter method being safer and increasingly used more, says Ko Thant Zin.

“We don’t have much difficulty as we have lots of experience now,” says Ko Kyo Aung, who operates the mining drill. “Accidents happen, but quite rarely. For mine workers here, dynamiting has been a piece of cake.”

Ten years ago, Ko Kyo Aung left his native Aunglan Township in Magwe Division to work at the mine, earning a daily wage of 10,000 kyats as well as 50,000 kyats per month for his supervisory role, some of which he sends back to his family in Aunglan. He vows to continue working in the mine as long as it operates.

“We feel tired only when we are fairly busy. Sometimes, we don’t have much to do, and even get bored,” he laughs.

The miners agree that their work pays more than the construction industry; plus, they say, it is not as tiring because they can work in the shade. Skilled workers earn between 18,000 kyats and 20,000 kyats, though the minimum wage at the mine is 10,000 kyats.

Prioritizing safety, supervisors check the rock walls every day and prop up the unstable places with wooden beams to prevent the walls from caving in. According to Ko Thant Zin, the operation’s leaders began working in the mines as young men nearly four decades ago.

“So they know exactly whether it could collapse or not when they knock the wall. They have worked in mines their whole lives; their expertise guarantees our safety.”

The workers live in the nearby village or in makeshift tents on the area surrounding the mine and their working days start between 7:30 and 8 a.m.

and finish at 4 p.m. with lunch from 11:30 a.m. until 2 p.m.

Women workers hit the rocks with hammers to sort out pieces that contain tungsten. These pieces are crushed with iron rollers, and the rock powders are filtered out several times to retrieve the tungsten. The process finishes after the tungsten is dried on the fire, explain the workers.

These days most mines use technological machinery but this has adverse effects, including excesses of waste water and earth being dumped from the mines, causing environmental and social concerns that lead to disputes between locals and mining companies.

Owner of Dawei Land Mining Co. Daw Htay Htay Thu says labor-intensive conventional mining has little impact on the environment and is more sustainable, while locals use the leftover rocks to pave roads.

“I love the conventional method,” she says. “Though the use of heavy machinery seems to be productive, conventional mining causes little waste, and digging with machinery causes a large amount.”

Pointing at a mountain, Daw Htay Htay Thu says some of the mountains on her land remain intact despite the underground mining. She inherited the mines from her ancestors who ran the operation during the colonial era.

Experts agree that underground mining does not impact the trees on the surface, but point out the risks posed to mine workers in dynamiting.

Caution is as natural to the mine workers as it is vital, and they take it every second.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko

Your Thoughts …
Tags: Labor RightsMiningNatural ResourcesTenasserimTin
Zue Zue

Zue Zue

The Irrawaddy

Similar Picks:

Workers at Adidas Factory in Myanmar Strike for Living Wage
Burma

Workers at Adidas Factory in Myanmar Strike for Living Wage

by The Irrawaddy
May 16, 2025
15.1k

Paid a slave wage for making trainers for global brands and ignored by the authorities, workers at Taiwanese company Tsang...

Read moreDetails
China’s Plunder of Myanmar’s Rare Earth Wealth Threatens Global Security
Guest Column

China’s Plunder of Myanmar’s Rare Earth Wealth Threatens Global Security

by Ankit K
December 28, 2024
12.8k

The world must act now to break China’s monopoly on rare earth mining and processing and the environmental and human...

Read moreDetails
Adidas Shoe Factory Agrees to Striking Workers’ Demands
Burma

Adidas Shoe Factory Agrees to Striking Workers’ Demands

by The Irrawaddy
May 21, 2025
12k

Striking workers at Yangon’s Tsang Yih Shoe Factory go back to work as management agrees to raise their daily wage...

Read moreDetails
Myanmar Fuel Tycoon to Help Junta’s Oil Drilling Amid Sanctions
Junta Cronies

Myanmar Fuel Tycoon to Help Junta’s Oil Drilling Amid Sanctions

by The Irrawaddy
May 31, 2024
10.6k

The regime, which wants to exploit oil and gas reserves, says it will develop two major oil wells with technical assistance...

Read moreDetails
KIA Seizes Myanmar Junta Base in Gold, Amber Mining Hub in Kachin
War Against the Junta

KIA Seizes Myanmar Junta Base in Gold, Amber Mining Hub in Kachin

by Hein Htoo Zan
May 17, 2024
9.5k

It said it captured the Nambyu outpost in Tanai Township with the help of resistance allies after six days of...

Read moreDetails
Rare Earth Mining Taking Heavy Toll in Myanmar’s Kachin, Groups Say
Burma

Rare Earth Mining Taking Heavy Toll in Myanmar’s Kachin, Groups Say

by Hein Htoo Zan
May 27, 2024
5.3k

Amid heavy global demand for rare earths, local activists’ concerns about the impacts on the environment and local communities are...

Read moreDetails
Load More
Next Post
The recently named General Aung San Bridge between Moulmein (Mawlamyine) and Chaungzon townships on the Salween River in Mon State. / Nyein Nyein / The Irrawaddy

What is Wrong With the NLD’s Policy?

U Wirathu pictured in 2013. / Myo Min Soe / The Irrawaddy

The Fall of U Wirathu

No Result
View All Result

Recommended

Is TNLA, Under Chinese Pressure, Conceding Northern Shan Gateway to the Regime?

Is TNLA, Under Chinese Pressure, Conceding Northern Shan Gateway to the Regime?

4 days ago
1.3k
China is Systematically Dismantling Tibetan Monastic Traditions

China is Systematically Dismantling Tibetan Monastic Traditions

2 days ago
1.1k

Most Read

  • Myanmar Junta Attacks to Reclaim KIA’s Jade and Rare Earth Strongholds

    Myanmar Junta Attacks to Reclaim KIA’s Jade and Rare Earth Strongholds

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • China’s Bet on Myanmar Junta Risks Backfiring

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • China is Systematically Dismantling Tibetan Monastic Traditions

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Updated Timeline: Key Events in the Life of Myanmar’s Daw Aung San Suu Kyi

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Defusing the Thai-Cambodian Border Row

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Newsletter

Get The Irrawaddy’s latest news, analyses and opinion pieces on Myanmar in your inbox.

Subscribe here for daily updates.

Contents

  • News
  • Politics
  • War Against the Junta
  • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
  • Conflicts In Numbers
  • Junta Crony
  • Ethnic Issues
  • Asia
  • World
  • Business
  • Economy
  • Election 2020
  • Elections in History
  • Cartoons
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Commentary
  • Guest Column
  • Analysis
  • Letters
  • In Person
  • Interview
  • Profile
  • Dateline
  • Specials
  • Myanmar Diary
  • Women & Gender
  • Places in History
  • On This Day
  • From the Archive
  • Myanmar & COVID-19
  • Intelligence
  • Myanmar-China Watch
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Food
  • Fashion & Design
  • Videos
  • Photos
  • Photo Essay
  • Donation

About The Irrawaddy

Founded in 1993 by a group of Myanmar journalists living in exile in Thailand, The Irrawaddy is a leading source of reliable news, information, and analysis on Burma/Myanmar and the Southeast Asian region. From its inception, The Irrawaddy has been an independent news media group, unaffiliated with any political party, organization or government. We believe that media must be free and independent and we strive to preserve press freedom.

  • Copyright
  • Code of Ethics
  • Privacy Policy
  • Team
  • About Us
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Burmese

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Business
    • Economy
    • Business Roundup
  • Books
  • Donation

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.