• Satellite data show at least 27 new rare earth mines have opened across Laos since 2022, mostly in protected areas and many within the Mekong River Basin, raising transboundary pollution risks for Vietnam and the wider Mekong system.
• Though rare earth mining is banned in Laos, operations — often funded by Chinese investors — continue under local-level permissions, reflecting weak oversight and growing Chinese influence as Laos seeks to boost its resource exports.
• Past incidents of chemical spills and fish die-offs have already harmed communities in northern and northeastern Laos, yet limited press freedom and civic space mean contamination and environmental impacts remain largely unreported and unmonitored.
• Experts warn that a rare earth mining boom could have severe ecological and social consequences, including deforestation, loss of livelihoods, and toxic pollution, with local communities powerless against unregulated mining backed by local elites and foreign capital.

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BANGKOK — New data show a recent proliferation of rare earth mines across river basins in Laos, potentially posing a transboundary water pollution threat to Vietnam and the entire Mekong River system. The new findings suggest that Chinese demand for rare earth minerals has led to the industry’s expansion into Laos, even though rare earth mineral extraction is currently illegal there.

Research from U.S.-based think tank the Stimson Center has identified 27 rare earth mines that have opened across river basins in Laos since 2022, including seven identified via satellite imagery analysis as having opened this year. Twenty-three of these mines appear to be in protected areas, but it’s unclear whether or not they’re operating with permission from officials.

Fifteen of these mines are operating within the Mekong River Basin: 12 on the Nam Khan River and three on the Nam Ngiep River, both of which feed into the Mekong, the roughly 4,900-kilometer (3,000-mile) river that flows from Tibet through Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam before emptying into the South China Sea. The Mekong River Basin is a biodiversity hotspot that sustains the lives of more than 50 million people who rely on it for food, water and livelihoods.

Another 10 rare earth mines were identified by the Stimson Center on the Nam Hao and Nam Xan rivers, in the Ma River Basin, where they not only pose a transboundary risk to Vietnam, but also to the Nam Xam National Biodiversity Conservation Area on the border of Laos and Vietnam, home to the critically endangered northern white-cheeked gibbon (Nomascus leucogenys) and the endangered Asian elephant (Elephas maximus).

Satellite analysis by the Stimson Center identified 27 rare earth mines across Laos, where the chemically intensive process threatens tributaries to the Mekong River. Image by Emilie Languedoc / Mongabay.

Rare earth mining operations in Myanmar have sickened communities downstream in Thailand, prompted investigations and exposed the toxic consequences that such unregulated extractive activities have had on rivers. In Laos, where press freedoms and community organizing are heavily restricted and the nascent rare earth mining sector operates without much governmental oversight, no such outcry has happened. As such, the extent to which mines in Laos could be contaminating transboundary rivers with mining runoff remains unclear, but the risk is expanding in line with the proliferation of new mines.

Testing supported by the Mekong River Commission in Laotian waters in July suggested that elevated levels of arsenic contamination originated from “possible sources beyond national boundaries” — likely a reference to the spillover of toxic wastewater from mines in Myanmar that has already contaminated the Kok, Sai and Ruak rivers that empty into the Mekong at the Thai-Laos border.

A spokesperson for the Mekong River Commission said it doesn’t independently conduct contamination assessments specifically linked to mining activities, but provides technical support and encourages member countries — Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam — to conduct regular testing throughout the lower Mekong Basin.

“If unchecked, pollution from mining and other industrial activities, especially when contaminant levels exceed standard limits, could harm public health, reduce biodiversity, disrupt aquatic ecosystems, and threaten the livelihoods of people who depend on the Mekong River,” the Mekong River Commission’s spokesperson told Mongabay via email. “While pollution control is primarily the responsibility of national authorities, the [Mekong River Commission] continues to assist member countries through data sharing, technical advice, joint monitoring, and regional cooperation to promote sustainable and water resources management across borders.”

Rare earth mineral mines have spread across Laos since 2022, draining the mountains and raising the risk of river contamination. Image supplied by source.

Unreported and unregulated

But whether Laos’s rivers are being polluted by mines in Myanmar or not, its own domestic mining sector has already created problems for riverine communities.

In 2024, rare earth mining chemical spills and river pollution in Laos’s northeastern provinces of Houaphanh and in Luang Prabang prompted government intervention after high levels of cyanide and acidity found in two rivers led to a widespread fish die-off, affecting 36 villages. Chinese company representatives reportedly agreed to meet with community members to discuss compensation, while local officials conducted more testing until the water was found to be safe again.

Rare earth mining was, as of 2017, banned in Laos. Nevertheless, sources familiar with the workings of the Laotian mining sector say that mining companies, particularly those backed by Chinese investors, have found workarounds by establishing client-patron relations with local officials. In effect, this means that many rare earth mining operations may have permission at the provincial or district level, even while they likely don’t have the legal right to do so as granted by the central government.

However, revisions to regulations are underway and foreign investors are already lining up to exploit the country’s resources. Chinese companies, which hold an estimated 30% of Laotian land as per 2016 land concession data, have the advantage due to Laos’s economic and political dependence on its northern neighbor. Some have already been exploring opportunities to gain mining concessions in Laos, while others are already mining rare earth minerals, operating under the guise of exploration.

A tributary river flows into the mainstream Mekong River at Luang Prabang, a UNESCO World Heritage site close to a megadam construction site in Laos. Image by Carolyn Cowan/Mongabay.

In 2023, Laos exported rare earth elements worth $104 million — less than a tenth of the $1.44 billion that Myanmar exported that same year — but both countries’ exports went exclusively to China. For context, Laos’s entire mineral exports to China in 2023 were valued at $876 million, showing the potential that rare earth mining has to expand.

“As far as I know, rare earth reserves in Laos are not that promising, but there are a lot of exploration going on, for sure,” said Oliver Tappe, a senior researcher with an expertise in Laos at the University of Konstanz in Germany. “It depends if the Chinese companies see a potential for profit. This I cannot tell. If there will be a rare earth mining boom, the environmental impact, especially on the waterways, will be huge, given the chemical-intense technology.”

Whether mining activity targets rare earths or other minerals, Tappe said that local communities often report “mysterious” contamination of rivers awash with dead fish, which he added has a dramatic impact on the local diet, given the importance of fish as a protein source.

“Usually, there are rumors that a nearby mining operation, official or uncontrolled, was the source of the pollution,” he told Mongabay via email. “Local communities call the local authorities. But they often cannot do more than negotiate a meager compensation payment and promise better control. Monitoring of all the new emerging small mining operations in the uplands is a joke, the Ministry of Energy and Mines clearly lacks capacities.”

Rare earth mines in Laos remain unregulated, but Chinese investors regularly circumvent the national government’s restrictions by seeking permission to mine from local officials. Image supplied by source.

Troubling the water

While it may be early days for Laos’s rare earth industry, the impacts are already been felt keenly by communities, particularly in the country’s northeast, the location of most of the rare earth mines identified by the Stimson Center.

Fearing reprisals from either the government or local mining magnates, one resident of northeastern Laos spoke on the condition of anonymity and noted that the problems caused by mining in general were widespread, with rare earth mining being a more recent development.

“The big problem is deforestation,” the source said, adding that as part of the exploration process, unregulated mining operations often clear large swaths of forest. “Mining is increasing across the country, mostly from Chinese investment, but there are no regulations in place for rare earth mining, which is why the central government is trying to stop it.”

According to the source, many of the rare earth mines in northeast Laos are operating with permission from local authorities, who in turn take a cut of the profits. But the central government’s attempts to rein in these rogue mines has seen little progress. This makes it difficult for villagers to protest or protect their land, because Chinese investors typically partner with local elites, even hiring military or police personnel to guard larger mines.

Local children watch the river flow in Pak Beng, Laos. The 912-megawatt Pak Beng project is the northernmost of the nine megadams slated to be built on the mainstream river in the lower basin. Image by Marcus Rhinelander/International Rivers via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).

“The 50-ton trucks are destroying the road, there’s constant dust, many communities’ land rights have been affected as they’re relocated for the mining operations, so a lot of people’s livelihoods have been lost,” the source continued. “When people try to protect the forests, even national protected areas, the challenge is that the mining keeps coming — it’s not sustainable development, it only destroys.”

The number of legal mining operations in northeastern Laos is, according to the source, dwarfed by the number of illegal ones. The products of these illegal mines, including rare earth minerals, are transported overland directly to China or through Vietnam to be shipped to China by sea, meaning the real value of Laos’s rare earth industry may be much higher than officially reported.

The proliferation of rare earth mines — as opposed to existing gold, copper, tin or potash mines — has become more visible in the past 12 months, the source said. While antimony, a critical mineral also used in military technology, lithium and gold have been the dominant minerals previously extracted, investors are now seeking rare earth minerals such as dysprosium and terbium, some of the most valuable of the 17 rare earth elements.

“Rare earth mining is the most impactful for the communities,” the source said. “They have to clear the trees, release a lot of chemicals into the ground. There are many processes. These chemicals then reach the rivers, they kill a lot of fish, and other species die for rare earth minerals.”

 

Banner image: The risk of wastewater contaminating transboundary rivers rises in tandem with the spread of unregulated rare earth mines in Laos. Image supplied by source.