Gold Mining in Conflict-Torn Kachin State

LAIZA, KACHIN, MYANMAR - 2014/07/09: Chinese gold miners carry buckets of gold-laden heavy silt to be processed at a different facility from a gold mining site near Laiza, Kachin State, Myanmar. In mineral-rich areas of Kachin State, taxes from Burmese and Chinese gold mining provides an important income stream to the Kachin Independence Organization. However, these mining companies use mercury in an environmentally hazardous extraction process, which can lead to long-lasting damage for the area's forests and river ways. (Photo by Taylor Weidman/LightRocket via Getty Images)