Myanmar is the world’s third-largest producer of rare earths and a critical supplier for neighboring China. But rebels have recently taken control of most of the country’s mines — creating a complicated situation for Beijing and for global supply chains.

On today’s Big Take Asia Podcast, host K. Oanh Ha and reporter Timothy McLaughlin discuss the Kachin Independence Organization’s control of a majority of Myanmar’s rare-earth mines, how the change is shifting Myanmar's political dynamics and what the group’s growing influence could mean for the future of rare earths. 

Read more: A Rebel Army Is Building a Rare-Earth Empire on China’s Border