Update by the Shan Human Rights Foundation
June 19, 2014
Stop gold mining in Mong Len!
Since 2007, over ten companies have been digging for gold in the “Loi Kham” hills between the town of Ta Ler and the Mekong River, in Tachilek township, eastern Shan State. So far, about eleven square miles of forested hillsides have been dug up for gold mining, causing soil erosion and water pollution that has destroyed the farming livelihoods of about 340 people in two nearby villages. Over 1,500 people in eight more villages in the fertile Nam Len valley are being threatened as the gold mining expands. The villagers are demanding an immediate stop to the gold mining, the restoration of their lands and water sources to their original condition, and full compensation for all the losses they have suffered.
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