It warns that with access to a multibillion-dollar slush fund from the trade, Myanmar's elite have the most to lose if the country's military-backed government is defeated at the polls. Freelance jade miners are seen on a jade mountain in Hpakant area of Kachin State, Northern Myanmar last year. Credit:AP The 10,000-strong Kachin rebel group has refused to sign a nationwide ceasefire agreement after 12 months of tortuous negotiations, prolonging a war that has displaced 100,000 people. "The industry generates funds for both sides and our report shows there is a strong incentive for military commanders and hardliners in government to prolong the conflict and protect the ill-gotten assets they stand to lose if the jade trade business is run more openly and fairly," the report says. Global Witness puts the value of Myanmar's trade at $US31 billion in 2014, which equates to nearly half of the entire country's GDP, and more than 46 times national spending on health.

Myanmar is the world's top producer of rubies and jade and the trade is feeding a booming Chinese market. Many wealthy Asians regard jade as having a mystical allure. Jade miners search for raw jade stones in an earth dump from a company's truck in Hpakant area, Kachin State in June. Credit:AP The market size estimate is based largely on official gem sales and does not take into account jade that is not officially recorded at mines in restricted areas of Kachin State, a lawless region bordering China that is home to the Kachin ethnic group, a Christian minority. Global Witness says since 2011 a rebranded government in Myanmar capital Naypyidaw has told the world it is turning the page on ruthless military rule, cronyism and human rights abuses. An employee displays peridot, left, ruby, centre, and green jade stones at the Myanmar VES Joint Venture showroom in Yangon, Myanmar, in 2013. Credit:Bloomberg

But the organisation says the plunder of jade "may be the biggest natural resource heist in modern history". "The local population sees little benefit from the mines," the report says, adding there is simmering resentment among locals. Local people examine the quality of a jade stone in the Hpakant area of Kachin state, northern Myanmar last month. Credit:AP Global Witness says conditions in the mines are "often fatally dangerous, while those who stand in the way of guns and machines face land grabs, intimidation and violence". Separately, The New York Times has reported that impoverished, heroin-addicted labourers are supplied drugs to hack jade out of the earth in harsh conditions in the Hpakant mining area which is closed to foreigners, except Chinese gem buyers.

A Burmese jade dealer arranges his display at a market stall in Mandalay, Myanmar last year. Credit:NYT While the report says a small number of jade companies have recently disclosed limited information about their owners, most are obscure conglomerates owned by the families of former generals, senior ruling party officials and drug barons who "cream off vast profits while local people suffer terrible abuses and see their natural inheritance ripped out beneath their feet". Global Witness says there is strong evidence showing that drugs kingpin Wei Hsueh-kang controls a group of companies that are the most dominant in the industry. Drug addicts inject heroin in the Kachin State of Myanmar last year.The drug and jade trades in Myanmar have become a toxic mix, enriching the military elite, rebel leaders and Chinese financiers. Credit:NYT The United States has offered a $US2 million reward for Chinese national Mr Wei, describing him as head of the largest heroin-trafficking group in south-east Asia.

Pushed by Australia, the US and other Western nations, Myanmar's government last year signed up for an international scheme designed to stop corruption and abuses in the country's oil, gas and mining sectors. Burmese dealers use flashlights to check the quality of jade at a market in Mandalay, Myanmar last year. Credit:NYT "But unless officials take urgent steps to implement its recommendations openly and fully in the jade business, the process risks being a sham," Juman Kubba, a Global Witness analyst, said. More than 30 million people will be eligible to vote across Myanmar on November 8 in what the government has promised will be the country's first free ballot in 25 years. WANTED: 63-year-old Wei Hsueh-kang, or Prasit Chivinnitipanya. Credit:US Dept of State

The National League for Democracy led by Nobel Peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi is expected to poll strongly across the country. But the party will need to win at least 67 per cent of the vote to take control of parliament from the army and its allies because under the constitution a quarter of seats are reserved for the military. Loading Follow FairfaxForeign on Twitter Follow FairfaxForeign on Facebook