India-Myanmar rare earth mining ties have moved further into the open, with New Delhi’s top diplomat in Naypyidaw using a public forum this week to outline the scale of cooperation building between the two countries. The remarks mark one of the clearest official signals yet that India is working to secure a foothold in Myanmar’s rare earth sector as it seeks alternatives to Chinese supply.
India-Myanmar Rare Earth Mining Ties Take Center Stage in Mandalay
Speaking on Wednesday at the opening of a mining forum in Mandalay, India’s ambassador to Myanmar, Abhay Thakur, laid out the extent of bilateral engagement on rare earths and critical minerals. He said cooperation in the mining sector had gained significant momentum over the past two years, pointing to two Indian delegations that visited Myanmar in December 2024 and again in February 2026 to explore opportunities in the sector.
Thakur also noted that the issue had received high-level political attention, referencing the official visit to India by Myanmar’s junta chief turned president, Min Aung Hlaing, in May and June. According to the ambassador, India’s growing requirement for critical minerals, combined with the potential benefits to Myanmar from sustainable mining practices, presents what he described as solid, win-win opportunities for both countries in the short and long term.
Myanmar’s Kachin State and the Global Race for Critical Minerals
The renewed diplomatic focus reflects the outsized role Myanmar plays in the global rare earth supply chain. Nearly half of the world’s supply of heavy rare earths is extracted from mines in Myanmar’s Kachin state, minerals that are typically shipped to China for processing into the magnets used in electric vehicles and wind turbines. Kachin state is among the few places in the world producing meaningful volumes of heavy rare earths such as dysprosium and terbium, elements prized for their use in high-performance magnets and other advanced technologies.
That concentration of supply has made the region strategically significant well beyond its borders, particularly as global demand for critical minerals used in clean energy and defence technology continues to climb.
Indian Companies Deepen Engagement in Myanmar
At the Mandalay forum, Thakur said several Indian firms were in attendance, including state-owned Indian Rare Earths Limited, NTPC Mining, Himadri Specialty, Oceanic Sands, PrNd Metal and Magnets, and Jai Puri Holdings. He also said that Midwest, an Indian company, had closely engaged with Myanmar in recent months and years, though he did not specify the nature of that involvement.
The presence of these companies builds on earlier reporting that Indian Rare Earths Limited and the private firm Midwest Advanced Materials, which received government funding last year for the commercial manufacturing of rare earth magnets, had already been involved in discussions to explore the collection and transportation of samples from mines in northern Myanmar.
The Kachin Independence Army’s Role in India’s Supply Chain
Much of Myanmar’s rare earth mining activity is concentrated in areas controlled not by the central government but by the Kachin Independence Army, an armed group that has consolidated control over key mining hubs near the Chinese border amid the civil conflict that followed the 2021 military coup. India has previously sought rare earth samples through engagement with the group, a notable departure from New Delhi’s usual practice of dealing only with recognised state authorities.
China continues to source some material from the same area, though its relationship with the rebels has remained uneasy given the broader civil war and Beijing’s traditional ties to Myanmar’s military establishment. For India, working around that dynamic while still accessing Kachin’s mineral wealth represents a delicate balancing act.
China’s Dominance and the Strategic Calculus
Despite the momentum in India-Myanmar rare earth mining ties, China’s grip on the sector remains difficult to circumvent. Although rare earth elements themselves are not especially scarce in nature, China holds near total control over the specialised technology required to process raw ore into usable magnets. Beijing has tightened export restrictions on processed rare earths this year as part of its broader trade tensions with major economies, a move that has pushed countries such as India to accelerate efforts to diversify their sources.
For New Delhi, gaining direct access to Myanmar’s ore is only the first step. Without comparable processing capacity of its own, India would still depend on external refining capabilities to convert raw material from Kachin state into finished magnets, underscoring the scale of the challenge facing its critical minerals strategy.
What Lies Ahead
The public remarks in Mandalay suggest India intends to formalise and expand what has largely been a quiet, sample-driven engagement with Myanmar’s rare earth sector into a more structured commercial relationship. With Indian firms increasingly visible at industry forums and diplomatic visits reinforcing the relationship at the highest levels, India-Myanmar rare earth mining ties appear set to deepen further in the coming months, even as questions remain over processing capacity, political stability in Kachin state, and China’s continued dominance over the global supply chain.
Published in SouthAsianDesk, July 23, 2026
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