Jade was worth a lot, so it would stand to reason that a jade mine was worth a staggering amount of money. Despite that, Li Du did not mean to open this mining area — and that was the truth. He was just here to find an item. Li Du knew very clearly that even if he did discover a jade mine, he would not be getting much out of it.
The body that really controlled the jade mines was the Myanmar government. If a new mining area were discovered, the government would do everything in its power to take over the rights to it. Even if the Myanmar government did not intervene, Li Du would still have no rights to the mine. Because he was not a citizen of the country, he had no right to open one.