When Phra Maha Nikhom was a boy, he swam and splashed in the crystalline Kok River. He caught crabs and fish. Today, he is the abbot of a Buddhist temple near Thailand’s border with Myanmar, and monks, with their copious saffron robes, don’t tend toward water play. But even if he wanted to, this tributary of the Mekong, Southeast Asia’s life force, is now a forbidden zone.

Unregulated rare earth mining in Myanmar, directed by Chinese enterprises, is poisoning the Kok and at least three other rivers that flow through Thailand. For months, levels of arsenic and other toxic metals have spiked to dangerous levels in Thai waterways, including the Mekong, government data shows.

The Kok, which normally flows limpid at this time of year, now runs brown, sullied with sediment believed to have been churned up by the mining in Myanmar. People who enter the river complain of skin ailments. The threat of longer-term health problems associated with toxins from rare earth extraction is sobering, including lung, bladder and kidney cancers.

Image

Farmers taking a break after applying pesticides on a corn field, high on a hill alongside the Kok River on the outskirts of the small village of Baan Phana Sawan, in northern Thailand.

Image

A woman using piped-in water to do dishes. She previously used water from the Kok in her village in Thailand, near the Myanmar border.

Video

Levels of arsenic and other toxic metals have spiked to dangerous levels in Thai waterways for months. CreditCredit...

In the jungles of Myanmar’s borderlands, two rare earth mines emerged in recent years.

They are built along the Kok River, which flows into Thailand.

Residents of riverside villages, like Thaton, say pollution from the mining is causing health problems.

The Kok is a tributary of the Mekong River, and the pollutants have also entered Southeast Asia’s most important waterway.

CHINA

Kachin

State

INDIA

There are more than

300 rare earth mines

clustered near the

border between

Myanmar and China.

BANGLADESH

Shan

State

MYANMAR

LAOS

Naypyidaw

Yangon

THAILAND

CHINA

Kachin

State

INDIA

There are more than

300 rare earth mines

clustered near the

border between

Myanmar and China.

Shan

State

MYANMAR

LAOS

Naypyidaw

Yangon

THAILAND

CHINA

Kachin

State

There are more than

300 rare earth mines

clustered near the

border between

Myanmar and China.

Shan

State

MYANMAR

LAOS

Naypyidaw

THAILAND

Yangon

Sources: Shan State mine locations from the Shan Human Rights Foundation; Kachin State mine locations from Institute for Strategy and Policy (ISP) – Myanmar

About a dozen rare earth mines have sprung up in

a small area in northern Myanmar in recent years.

Area of

detail

Shan

State

Naypyidaw

Yangon

Built in 2024

Built before 2020

1 mile

Built in 2024

Built in 2022

MYANMAR

Built in 2022

2 miles

Built in 2022

Built in 2022

Built in 2020

Built before 2020

Built in 2024

Built in 2024

3 miles

About a dozen rare earth mines have sprung up in

a small area in northern Myanmar in recent years.

Area of

detail

Shan

State

Naypyidaw

Built in 2024

Yangon

Built before 2020

1 mile

Built in 2024

Built in 2022

MYANMAR

Built in 2022

2 miles

Built in 2020

Built in 2022

Built in 2022

Built before 2020

Built in 2024

3 miles

Many rare earth mines have

sprung up in a small area in northern

Myanmar in recent years.

Area of

detail

Shan

State

Built in 2024

Naypyidaw

Yangon

Built before 2020

Built in 2024

Built in 2022

Built in 2022

MYANMAR

Built in 2022

Built in 2022

Built before 2020

Built in 2024

Many rare earth mines have

sprung up in a small area of northern

Myanmar in recent years.

Built in 2024

Built before 2020

1 mile

Built in 2024

Built in 2022

Built in 2022

MYANMAR

2 miles

Built in 2022

Built in 2022

Built before 2020

Area of

detail

Shan

State

Naypyidaw

3 miles

Yangon

Sources: Shan Human Rights Foundation; New York Times analysis of satellite imagery from Planet Labs. Satellite image by Airbus via Google Earth captured in February 2025.

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