The company has mined 627 tons of “sunstone”

Photo: Kaliningrad Amber Combine

The Kaliningrad Amber Combine has completed the seasonal raw amber extraction program. Mining was carried out this year in complex geological conditions and continued until the “sunstone” reserves were fully extracted from a development mine face. The annual record of the Primorsky field has eventually grown up to 627 tons. 

“Having completed the last development face, we close the season and immediately proceed to preparation for the next one. Amber mining is traditionally stopped for the winter season because the production process uses water that freezes at temperatures below zero. But the quarry is not closed. Overburden operations are still continued there. About 14 000 m3 of overburden is removed daily to reach the succiniferous bed occurring at depths between 40 and 50 meters. Moreover, scheduled equipment and machine maintenance is carried out from November till February. Amber mining will be resumed in March. Next year, the planned targets of the Primorsky quarry will be equal to 600 tons,” said Aleksandr Smirnov, Deputy General Director of Mining, Chief Engineer of the Kaliningrad Amber Combine. 

The Primorsky amber field in the Kalinigrad Region is the world’s largest. Its capacity is estimated at more than 53 000 tons of Baltic amber. This is sufficient to mine the fossils for another hundred years. The Amber Combine started excavating the Primorsky quarry in 1976. Only 47 tons of amber were extracted from this field at that time.