Local residents say they are facing threats over rock mining in Lon Nya Mountain in Hpa-an township, Kayin State.
Locals will hold a news conference on the problem on Wednesday and have already invited reporters.
“They can’t show any authorisation from the state government for rock mining, although they already started several months ago.
“We can’t stop them as we face threats from BGF (Kayin Border Guard force) which shot at us,’’ said U Saw Aye Maung, resident in Tadaoo village, near Lon Nya Mountain.
Lon Nya Mountain is located near Hpa-an township, Kayin State and is surrounded by several villages such as Tadaoo, Eindu, Mya Pyi, Ka Mo Poh and Ka Num Doe Tow.
“This mountain is our main food supply as we can get much food from hunting and other activities.
Our water mainly comes from Lon Nya lake near Lon Nya Mountain during the summer. If they continue the mining process, all may disappear,’’ he added.
Several after effects from rock mining affect the daily life in the area, such as tremors and wells destroyed, which scare local population, said U Nyi Nyi Lin, another resident.
“We have made plans to send an open letter to the president’s office on the matter,” he added.
The rock production in Lon Nya Mountain is operated by a local business since 2007. In 2012, an Indian company built a cement factory through agreements with the state government, which triggered local demonstrations.
In 2016, the authorities negotiated with locals to undergo rock mining in view of building a road from Myanmar to Thailand, but failed to do so.
This year, Chit Linn Myaing, a Chinese company, took over the rock mining operation, in cooperation with the Kayin Border Guard force (BGF).
According to the company, they already reached an agreement with the authorities in September 2017 and received authorisation from BGF concerning the rock mining for three years.
“They started on September 25 and locals were informed about it.
“The future of our environment is uncertain, as after three years of mining, everything has been destroyed,” said U Saw Thar Bo, a local environment activist.