Sixteen Chinese miners were killed and over 20 injured in a mine accident in Molybdenum, eastern Kachin State, near the China border in Northern Burma on Monday, said local sources.

The mine is located near Hpimaw in Chipwi Township close to border pillar No. 7 connecting southwest China’s Yunnan province. The areas are under the control of the New Democratic Army-Kachin (NDA-K), which transformed to the Burmese Army-controlled Border Guard Force in November last year, said Chipwi residents.

A Chipwi resident told Kachin News Group today, “Over a dozen Chinese miners were killed and over 20 injured in the mine collapse”.

Sources close to a former NDA-K officer in Pangwah said Chinese miners were killed and injured in the mine collapse when explosives were being used in daily mining activities.

The Chinese state-run Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday that at least 13 miners were killed in landslide in the mine, about 1.8 miles inside Burma.  Five others were brought to a hospital in Tengchong, a town in China’s Yunnan province while two others are missing.

Xinhua said, quoting a spokesman of the Communist Party Committee of Tengchong County that China has sent 140 rescue personnel with rescue equipment to the accident site in Burma.

There are hundreds of Chinese miners in former NDA-K controlled areas around Pangwah, Hpimaw and Chipwi for mining raw Molybdenum including other minerals like lead and graphite.  The raw minerals are transported to China border region and Tengchong by trucks on a daily basis, according to eyewitnesses.

All mining activities in Hpimaw areas are in collaboration between Chinese mining companies and the family of Zahkung Ting Ying, who is the former Chairman of NDA-K for over ten years now, added local residents.

China is the main ally of mineral-rich Burma, which is also among the three major Molybdenum producing countries in the world along with Chile and the US.

In Kachin State alone, China has planned to construct nine hydropower projects—five in N’Mai Hka River, two in Mali Hka River (Irrawaddy River in Burmese) and two in Dapein River (Ta Hkaw Hka in Kachin)--- four projects are being jointly implemented with the Burmese junta since 2006.

China is keen on political stability in Burma where it is building oil and gas pipelines from the energy field in Burma’s western Arakan State to Yunnan province to cater to its booming economy.