Gallery: Startling Photos Capture Myanmar's $31 Billion Jade Mining Industry
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Illegal miners hack away with iron picks and drills on the hunt for jade.
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Company workers discover a jade boulder weighing almost 200 tons and worth an estimated $170 million at a licensed mining site in Hpakant, Kachin, Myanmar.
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Illegal miners crawl over a hillside at a company mining waste site.
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A team of illegal miners hired by a local trader work at a jade mine in Hpakant, Kachin, Myanmar.
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A massive landslide buried over 100 people at a mining site in Hpakant in November 2015. Here, locals await news as the search for bodies continues.
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Miners bike beside a jade mining truck in Hpakant, Kachin, Myanmar.
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A miner injects heroin at a “shooting gallery” at a jade mining site in Hpakant, Kachin, Myanmar. Miners pay as little as $2 for a shot, and authorities turn a blind eye.
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A group of illegal miners take to the water trying to escape arrest by soldiers at mining site.
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Some illegal miners work during the day, while others work at night.
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Headlamps light the nightly search for jade at a company mining waste site in Hpakant, Kachin.
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Illegal miners take a break at a company mining waste site.
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An injured jade miner on crutches.
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A Chinese girl inspects a stone at a jade market in Hpakant.
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Black market jade traders often rent hotel rooms in Yin Jiang, China to store the jade they smuggle across the border before it’s picked up by customers.
