Insight - Chinese jade miners in overdrive ahead of new Myanmar government

Miners search for jade stones at a mine dump at a Hpakant jade mine in Kachin state, Myanmar November 27, 2015. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun

HPAKANT, Myanmar (Reuters) - Using heavy earth-excavators and explosives, miners have been tearing into Myanmar's northern hills in recent months, in a rush to excavate more jade from the world's richest deposits of the gemstone before a new government takes office next year.

Acres of forest have been felled, leaving behind craters, barren cliffs and a web of dirt tracks in the once-picturesque Kachin hills as the Chinese firms that dominate the jade business step up mining and aggressively seek new concessions.