Key facts
- DCI Group said the US should treat Myanmar as a critical minerals priority, not simply a diplomatic challenge.
- The State Department strategy targets at least three US commercial or investment deals valued above $5 million each.
- DCI Group called that target modest given Myanmar's mineral resources and US ambitions to compete with China.
- Myanmar's main rare earth production sites in Kachin are controlled by the Kachin Independence Army, a rebel group fighting the military.
- China produces about 90% of the world's rare earth magnets, partly from raw material shipped from Myanmar.
- The State Department did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Myanmar's military-led government is urging the United States to deepen re-engagement and rapidly increase investment in the country's rare earths mines, a sector it says is dominated by China. The appeal came in a newsletter published on Monday, November 9, 2026, by Washington lobbying firm DCI Group on behalf of Myanmar's information ministry, Reuters reported on November 10, 2026.
The push follows a US State Department strategy document released the prior week, which outlined a plan to expand US influence and potentially gain access to Myanmar's rare earth deposits after months of talks with Myanmar officials. The strategy aims to secure "at least three major commercial or investment deals valued above $5 million each" for US companies.
DCI Group called that target modest. "That is modest, given Myanmar's mineral resources and America's stated ambition to compete with China," the firm said, adding that Chinese companies and intermediaries hold advantages "that will not be easily displaced." It also said: "Ultimately, the United States should treat Myanmar as a critical minerals priority, not simply a diplomatic challenge."
Myanmar, where a 2021 coup triggered a civil war, is one of the world's main sources of heavy rare earths, most of which are exported to China to be turned into magnets used in electric vehicles, wind turbines and other high-tech items. China produces about 90% of the world's rare earth magnets, partly relying on raw material shipped from Myanmar, and has tightened state control of the sector.
Myanmar's main rare earth production sites, in the northern region of Kachin, are controlled by the Kachin Independence Army, a rebel group fighting the military that the report says has Beijing's backing. Since the coup, Washington froze Myanmar's assets at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and imposed sanctions, before reversing course by holding direct talks in September.