"Only 40 kms north of the Thai border in the mountains of eastern Shan State, Thai investors are poised to begin mining and burning large reserves of coal at Mong Kok. Ihis project — which will ravage a pristine valley and poison the Kok River, impacting countless Shan and northern Thai communities downstream - must be stopped immediately. The Italian-Thai Power Company has entered into agreements with the Burmese military regime to develop an open-pit coal mine and power plant at Mong Kok in eastern Shan State, to export both coal and power to Thailand. Home to over a thousand Shan, Lahu and Akha farmers, Mong Kok lies in a conflict zone, where troops of the Burmese junta clash regularly with ethnic resistance forces, and commit systematic abuses against the local peoples. The regime has poured troops into the area to secure the mining site. Villagers have been forced to sell their farmlands for a pittance, and are being forced into a resettlement site directly adjacent to the mining area. Many have fled to the Thai border. Conducted in secrecy and with armed intimidation, this project blatantly contradicts any standards of responsible investment. But if Thai investors think the project?s impacts are going to stay safely outside their borders, they should think again. Hundreds of coal trucks a day and huge new power pylons will be blighting the scenic Chiang Rai landscape, while the mine and power plant will be flushing poisons into the Kok River - harming an ecosystem that sustains countless communities downstream in Thailand, and threatening the lucrative tourist trade along with it..."