Rare earth mining poisoning Mekong tributaries

30 APRIL 2026

Contamination of the Mekong River and its tributaries by toxic runoff from rare earth mines upstream is threatening millions who rely on those waters for farms and fisheries.
About 70 million people in mainland Southeast Asia who depend on the nearly 5,000-kilometre (3,100-mile) Mekong River.
The Mekong River originates in China’s Tibetan Plateau (as the Lancang Jiang) and flows through five other nations—Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam—before emptying into the South China Sea.
Millions rely on fish from the Mekong Basin for protein.
Thailand is one of the world’s top rice exporters along with India and Vietnam.
The Mekong has long faced mounting pressures, from plastic pollution to hydropower dams hemming it upstream and sand mining devouring its banks.
Rising demand for rare earth materials is driving an unregulated mining boom centred in war-torn Myanmar, to the west, that is spreading to Laos, in the east.
But experts warn that the toxic runoff from the mines could pose an existential threat.
Exposure to heavy metals such as arsenic, mercury, lead and cadmium raises risks of cancer, organ failure and developmental harm, especially for children and pregnant women.
Arsenic can cause organ failure. Mercury damages the nervous system. Lead impairs cognition and cadmium harms the kidneys.