The ordinary people, especially villagers, in the Kachin state of Myanmar, have lost land, homes and entire communities to jade mining. The industry was worth more than USD30 billion last year according to a new estimate by Global Witness, a group which investigates misuse of resource wealth. But there is so little investment in the region that cars on the main road to the state capital need elephants to rescue them from the mud. And while big, well-connected companies rake in most of the jade, informal miners risk and often lose their lives digging for the scraps. 

It may be recalled that Jade is most prized in Myanmar’s giant northern neighbor China and is more valuable than most precious gems: Last year, a jade bead necklace was sold for $27.4 million at a Sotheby’s auction in Hong Kong. The Global Witness report released Friday estimates Myanmar’s jade trade, official and illicit, was worth $31 billion in 2014. 

As juman Kubba, the analyst from Global Witness says, “What’s happening to the money is the real question. It certainly isn’t helping the people of Myanmar or the people of Kachin state.”