Images relating to jade-mining in Myanmar. Almost half of all jade sales in the country are "unofficial" - that is, spirited over the border into China with little or no formal taxation. This represents billions of dollars in lost revenues that could be spent on rebuilding a nation shattered by nearly half a century of military dictatorship. Myanmar produced more than 43 million kg
of jade in fiscal year of 2012. Even valued at a conservative $100 per kg, it was worth $4.3 billion. But official exports of jade that year stood at only $34 million.

Such squandered wealth symbolizes a wider challenge in Myanmar, an impoverished country whose natural resources – including oil, timber and precious metals - have long fueled armed conflicts while enriching only powerful individuals or groups.