Photo: Kaliningrad Amber Combine
The Kaliningrad Amber Combine included in Rostec State Corporation has completed seasonal raw amber production operations on 14 November. In 2023, the company has extracted 630 tons of finished, i.e. dried and screened, amber. This is the first time such output has been achieved in the 21st century.
Commercial production of succinite (international geological name of Baltic amber) is carried out seasonally from spring to summer. This is owing to the extraction process that uses water which freezes at temperatures below zero. The total finished amber output was equal to 630 tons this season. This is 26% higher than for the previous year and is an absolute record set by the combine since 1996.
“Although in 2023 we changed over to one 8-hour shift amber extraction, this production season was rich in records. With monthly average extraction volume of 65 to 75 tons, we produced 92 tons in August and broke our own previous month record in September by having extracted 100 tons. Such results were possible due to high-quality preparation for the next season and production process optimization. This allowed to avoid downtime caused by equipment failures. The rate taken by the combine this year will be maintained during the next season. According to the mining development plan for 2024, 600 tons of finished amber are to be extracted in the Primorsky quarry,” commented Mikhail Zatsepin, General Director of the Kaliningrad Amber Combine.
