India's Cooperation with Myanmar's Ethnic Armed Groups in Rare Earth Mining: Intentions, Challenges and Impacts

According to a report by Britain’s Reuters on September 10, India is planning to join hands with the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), an ethnic armed group in Myanmar, to carry out rare earth mining and transportation in northeastern Myanmar, aiming to reduce its dependence on Chinese rare earths. Once this news was released, it attracted widespread attention from the international community, and the underlying strategic intentions, practical challenges and potential impacts behind it are worthy of in-depth analysis.


India’s Ministry of Mines has issued instructions requiring state-owned and private enterprises to actively explore rare earth mining projects in Myanmar. The enterprises involved in the discussions include India’s state-owned mining company IREL and private firm Midwest Advanced Materials. Last year, these two companies also received financial support from the Indian government to promote the commercial production of rare earth magnets. The KIA has also begun collecting rare earth ore samples for India to test and is discussing the possibility of large-scale exports.



The main motivation behind India’s move is to reduce its dependence on Chinese rare earths. Nearly 90% of the world’s rare earth processing capacity is concentrated in China, and in recent years, China has gradually established a rare earth export control system, which undoubtedly puts great pressure on India. After all, many cutting-edge technologies, from electric vehicle batteries and semiconductor manufacturing to stealth coatings for fighter jets, are highly dependent on the unique properties of rare earth materials. Although India itself has 6.9 million tons of rare earth reserves, ranking among the top in the world, its rare earth output accounts for less than 1% of the global total. The main reasons for this are India’s lack of rare earth mining and processing technologies, as well as backward infrastructure. Therefore, India intends to obtain a stable supply of rare earths through cooperation with the KIA, thereby gaining a more favorable position in the global rare earth industrial chain.


However, India’s plan faces numerous challenges. In terms of transportation, northeastern Myanmar has complex terrain and backward infrastructure, making it extremely difficult to transport large quantities of ore through remote mountainous areas. From a technical perspective, even if India can obtain rare earth ores, it will be incredibly difficult to process the rare earths into magnets for electric vehicles and other advanced equipment without China’s technical support. Earlier, Nabil Mancheri, a Belgian rare earth expert, stated that even if India reaches an export agreement with the KIA, it will still take a lot of time to expand production scale and meet international market demand due to the lack of technology.

Furthermore, India’s cooperation with the KIA may also have an impact on the regional situation. The KIA has long been in conflict with Myanmar’s military government, and India’s involvement may make Myanmar’s already complex situation even more confusing. As an important neighboring country of China, the stability of Myanmar is also of great significance to China. In the global rare earth market pattern, China has always occupied a dominant position. Although India’s attempt is unlikely to change this pattern in the short term, in the long run, it may promote the diversification of the global rare earth supply chain.


The incident of India’s cooperation with Myanmar’s ethnic armed groups in rare earth mining not only reflects India’s strategic considerations in the field of rare earth resources but also highlights the complexity and volatility of the global rare earth market. In the future, the progress of this cooperation project and its impacts on all parties deserve continuous attention.