China Lead Mine Plan Weighs Heavily on Myanmar Tribe

Protesters from the Pradawng tribe in Myanmar demonstrated against a China-backed battery metal mine during a protest rally in Pekon township in Myanmar's eastern Shan State on May 2, 2025. AFP

Hundreds of protesting Myanmar tribespeople march up a hillside to a cavernous facility where a Chinese joint venture’s giant milling machines stand ready to grind up the rocks of their ancestral homeland for lead ore.

Demand for the heavy metal is forecast to rise, driven by its use in the batteries needed for the global energy transition.

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by Agence France-Presse

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