An unidentified mining project of the ruling military junta is being secretly operated in Shan State North’s Kyaukme Township, local sources said.

The project site is in Nawngping village tract, south of the Lashio-Mandalay highway. Security is very tight around the site. Outsiders are barred from visiting the site, including its own officers, a local villager who lives near the project site said.

The number of workers at the site is over 500 and more will be coming soon, he said. “Because of this information, many villagers from other villages have come to open shops and restaurants in the vicinity.”

The Burmese Army has ordered workers not to give out any information about the project, said another source. “They [junta] informed people that it is only for a hydro power project.”

“Everything dug out is put in boxes and carried to Naypyitaw directly,” she said, “Workers also don’t know what it is.”

An informed source said Senior General Than Shwe, Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), was reported to have visited the site in the second week of April.

According to some local residents, it is expected to be coal mining as some coal and metal company had reportedly been there for inspection two years ago. But others are skeptical, “Why should they be so secretive, if it’s only coal?” asked one rhetorically.