Narrator: Here is a jade – a stone rarer than a diamond.
Many people were killed during him, so this gem is known as “Bloody Jade”.
Almost all of the world jade is located on the hills, Kachin, Mjanm.
Every year, many miners die as a result of the landslides.
What really happens there remains a mystery, because the mines are guarded by the army 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
So we had to record the material by phone.
Reports suggest that Chinese companies illegally serve mines and allegedly use desperate employees.
Thant, Górnik: My bosses give me drugs as a salary.
Thanks to this, I and others can work inside the bottom for a long time.
Narrator: About 90 percent The jade extracted here is smuggled across the border to China, where it is considered a holy stone.
We went to the Mjanmy Mountains to find out how to hunt a jewel, which according to legend provides eternal life, caused the death of so many people.
Black markets usually come to life after dark, because it is believed that Jadeit is shining the brightest in the moonlight.
Most sales are not documented or taxed.
However, if the jewels were sold legally, Majanma could earn around $ 31 billion. annually.
Reports suggest that many buyers come from neighboring China, despite the fact that sales to foreigners are unlawful.
Client: What's the price?
Seller: 15 million kiats (approx. PLN 18,000).
Client: Can I pay in installments?
Seller: Yes.
Client: Now I will pay 3 million kiats (about PLN 3,600).
Narrator: During the day about 400 thousand People work in mines in the HPAKANT region in the northern part of the state of Kachin in Mjanm.
Many Chinese companies bribe officials to be able to act illegally here.
After the extraction of large stones, they shed the upper layer of soil and allow miners to dig in it.
38-year-old Thant has been working here for seven years.
Thant: When I started working as a miner, I wanted to become my own boss.
It did not happen, and in exchange I became addicted.
Narrator: Approximately 75 percent Miners working here are addicted to drugs such as heroin and methamphetamine.
Thant says that before arriving here he never tried these drugs.
Now he takes them several times a day.
He says that some of his Chinese bosses paid him part of his salary with free meals and heroin.
He asked us to hide their identity because he is afraid of retaliation from his employers.
Thant: They save a lot of money and employees work for a long time.
Narrator: These claims are difficult to verify because most of the extraction takes place illegally.
A single mining permit was issued from the military coup in 2021.
Brutal conflicts in this region have been taking place since the beginning of the 1960s.
The Kaczin, who come from these mountains, are fighting for independence.
They have their own army known as Kia, which fights with the armed forces of Mjanmy and other ethnic groups.
Only in the last decade in the war thousands of Kacziński civilians were killed.
We contacted Kia and Mjanmy's army, but we did not receive an answer.
The conflict allowed lawlessness, as well as illegal drug trafficking, which became a multi -billion industry throughout the country.
Thant: There are a lot of drugs here that you can easily get.
Narrator: Mjanma is the world's largest opium and methamphetamine producer.
Drugs are smuggled from here to China and nearby countries.
Profits drive the war in Kaczin.
Extraction of a jade also finances it.
Most of Mjanma's jade is smuggled into China, where for millennia it is believed that this stone has happiness and has healing properties.
Legends say that he can make the soul live forever.
Jade was also found buried with members of the royal family in ancient tombs.
Currently, the richest Chinese wear Jadeit as a symbol of status and power.
According to reports, Chinese companies pay Mjanmy to 400,000 residents. hole. for one smuggling in trucks.
The price of this jewel increased ten times in the first decade of the 21st century.
According to the latest estimates, it is still growing exponentially.
There is a cheaper type called nephrite, which is widely sold in Chinese districts around the world.
The state of Kaczin in Mjanm, however, is one of the few places where there is an extremely green and transparent jade, which is so rare that the bracelet can be sold for up to $ 3 million.
It is estimated that there are about 90 percent. global raw material.
However, they are hollow.
Miners like Shwe Tauk are looking for what is left.
He uses a flashlight to see if the stone has at least a little green.
Shwe Tauk, Górnik: Searching for a jade can lead us to wealth or death.
People still hope, so they are looking for him.
Narrator: Dozens of people are buried alive or sink because of landslides each year.
Shwe: The sound that the landslide makes is terrifying.
When it comes to it, we focus on survival.
Narrator: In 2020, one landslide killed about 200 miners.
Shwe claims, however, that mining is its only option.
Shwe: I feel like a man, so I have to work to have a safe life.
Narrator: Seven years ago, Shwe revealed himself as a transgender man and since then he had problems finding a job.
Shwe: I was starving for a month.
Narrator: Mjanma is one of the countries where it is the hardest to find work for people identifying as LGBTQ.
National law allows the arrest of people who openly express their gender identity.
Shwe: I would like to live as a free man.
Narrator: Shwe says he looked too similar to a woman when he started working here.
Shwe: I felt shame.
However, I had to work, so I suppressed this feeling.
Narrator: Few women work in these mines.
Some of them informed about sexual abuse by miners and soldiers.
Shwe says other men treated him well.
Today, many of them are his close friends.
However, Thant has lost many of his friends for years.
He lives in a hut at the cemetery where some of them were buried.
He moved here from a city nearly 480 km after his family's house burned down.
Thant: I currently live in HPAKANT, away from my parents, children and wife.
Narrator: He promised his wife and children that he would return the rich and rebuild their house.
Thant: Every night before bedtime, I pray to God to find a valuable jade.
My wife does not want to continue our marriage.
However, he claims that if I have some money, he will take me back.
Narrator: Thant says drugs help him relieve pain.
Thant: If I find a jade of 10 million kiats (about PLN 12,000), I will stop taking drugs and come back home to be with my family and spend the rest of my life with her happily.
This is my dream.
Crowd: Piotr Nazek
