Located on the Thai-Myanmar border, Mae Sot district in Tak province is hidden in
mountainous area. With the abundant supplies of water from Moei River and smaller
canalization, local residents of Mae Sot have depended on rice, soybean and garlic cultivations for at least 3 generations. Rice grown in the area has yielded national award-winning products for many consecutive years.
Around 1977, zinc mining activities of 3 companies were started after the Department of
Mineral Reources, Ministry of Industry classified this area as the richest source of zinc minerals in Thailand. However, at present, only one company has remained in the area and its gross income and profit is shown in table 1.
Table 1 : Gross income and profit of the only zinc mining company in Mae Sot, Tak, 1999 – 2004
(Social Research Institute, Chiang Mai University, Thailand 2006)