Where is amber mined?

How to catch the sun? This question is fairly easy to answer. The fact is that there is one stone that people associate with the sun and its energy. He is loved and revered; various crafts are made from him. So a man is trying to keep the rays of the sun near him. What is this miracle stone? It’s easy to guess, we are talking about amber.

This stone usually lies in the form of inclusions between coal seams. As a rule, the location of amber is divided into two large groups.

• The first is primary or primary deposits. That stone, which is found in coal deposits, refers specifically to them. Primary deposits also include areas such as North Siberian, Far Eastern, and Ural. The explanation is simple: where coniferous forests used to grow, and resin flowed abundantly from the trees, and amber appeared.
• Another group is secondary. Such deposits are called placers. They, in turn, are divided into sea and river. These deposits are located at a far distance from the primary (primary). And all because the stone to the future deposits was brought by water currents or scree, or due to the advancement of glaciers.

That is, amber was not born there, but "emigrated" to these places through natural shifts. As a result of the accumulation of the brought natural material, huge deposits were formed.

The most famous place in Russia, where they extract sun stone, is considered to be Kaliningrad. Kaliningrad deposits are loose. On the example of secondary sections, one can see their another division, now into discharges. They are delta, coastal, marine, glacial.

Why are amber deposits very low in density? Because the resin does not sink in water.And amber is fossilized resin. Many centuries ago, resin was transported by water currents over fairly long distances. Where the stream met an obstacle, the resin clung to the sand, mixed with the fragments of trees. Amber created time and natural phenomena.

Today, people find sunny pieces in various places. They can be found on the river bank, in various shallows, in fragments of vegetation. A river stream blows them there. Amber can also be found at the foot of the mountains; it was demolished there by a glacier.

Still pebbles can bring spring flood or storm to the surface. For example, as in the Kaliningrad region. On the coast of oceans and seas, the solar mass makes a storm. In the 19th century, it was in the Kaliningrad region that once there was a very large release of gems. Residents collected stones for several days.

If you start a conversation about large deposits, then you need to start a story with Russia. The largest amber cluster is located on the Baltic coast earlier than the Sambian, and now the Kaliningrad Peninsula. To be precise - this is the village of Yantarny (approximately 90% of the world's stone reserves are located in this place). Amber is over fifty million years old. That's exactly what experts say.

At this time, using geological research, experts have determined that there are new areas for development. Their reserves are approximately three hundred tons.

The field in the Kaliningrad Region on the Baltic Sea is divided into three sections: Palmnikensky, Beachy and Primorsky. Development at the Palmniken site has been underway since 1976. According to the calculations of geologists, the Palmnikensky and Primorsky quarries can supply people with amber for another two hundred years.

In the Rivne region, which is located in Ukraine, there are also amber reserves. They are located in a kind of triangle of settlements Klesovo-Sarny-Dubrovitsy. The extraction of Ukrainian nuggets is cheaper due to the fact that they occur at a depth that ranges from 3 to 10 meters. From one cubic meter of earth layer, you can get 250 g of sunstone.

The Dominican Republic is also famous for the extraction of amber. Here, the age of a mountain stone is 40 million years. In Germany there is a field that is located in Saxony-Anhalt. Amber is about 22 million years old.

The Baltic Amber Center is located in Kaliningrad, followed by Lithuania. The local geological service is trying to announce an open international competition for the extraction of this stone. In Estonia, in large quantities, you can also find various amber souvenirs. Nuggets in these places are mined on the island of Saaremaa, and already they produce expensive gizmos.

Belarusians believe that amber deposits in their area look like ghosts. Deposits of sun stone are depicted on the maps of geologists and in scientific publications, but not everyone can see them personally. Pieces of nuggets are found in Paleolithic sites. Their age is approximately thirteen thousand years.

Belarusian geological exploration has identified seven areas with amber deposits. Stones occur in Pinsk, Stolin, Luninets, Drogichin districts, in Polesie and in the Brest region. The most outstanding in this regard are marsh deposits in the Gatcha massif near Zhabinka. More than three hundred tons of amber are stored there.

New deposits are discovered in Latvia. Amber is found both on the shore and at the bottom of the sea. Alluvial deposits very often open at the bottom due to the fact that water moves huge layers of sand. As a result of such a perturbation, the solar stone breaks out.

By and large, it is easier to name places where amber is not mined. The fishery takes its start in the Kaliningrad region, and then it spreads throughout the country. And while the main reserves are located in Kaliningrad, deposits were discovered in the north of Siberia and the Far East, which helped these sites enter the Euro-Asian amber-bearing province of the world. As a result, even a brand appeared in Altai. It was invented by local residents for a very high-quality sunflower oil. It is called - “Amber of Altai”.

In addition, amber is found in Russia in the Urals, in the Primorsky Territory and in Yakutia. Large nuggets are not found here, therefore, the industrial excavation of solar stone in these places is impractical.

The process of extracting sun stone is very diverse. For example, development can be carried out using the screw-hydraulic method. This is the safest way for both the environment and the state of the stone. The work is carried out as follows: with the help of screw-hydraulic equipment, wells are drilled in the ground. Their diameter is 80 cm.

Nuggets rise to the surface with soil under hydraulic pressure. Then they are cleaned, washed from sand and earth. This is the most modern way.

And there is still a method that provides for the organization of special quarries. First, empty rocks break out, then layers of blue clay are exposed. It has amber.

It used to be different. In ancient times, amber was manually collected on the coast, which is located along the Baltic Sea, and the production was stored in special containers. This method made it possible to extract about sixty thousand tons of sun stone. Time passed, and our ancestors realized that getting a stone out of the water is much easier if you use nets. Amber got into them along with algae.

Some seekers even “plowed” the coastal zones so that light stone was washed out of the sea soil and floated to the surface. It’s easy to get a sun stone in nature. It is located at a fairly shallow depth. But for the organization of official production requires large costs, so there are "black" diggers.

Illegal extraction involves the use of a huge vacuum cleaner hose. Standing knee-deep in water, people raise and lower the aluminum pipe attached to the gasoline pump into a hole with dirty water. So they wash the soil (blue clay), which is more than 50 million years. Amber rises to the surface with this slurry.

Catching amber in such pits is a rather difficult task. However, all the costs and labor pays off with interest. A large stone in the black market is more expensive than a piece of gold of the same weight. Finding such an instance is a great success. Therefore, people dig holes, not thinking about their health and environmental damage.

The authorities of the Russian Federation tightened their sentences for this activity in 2017. To date, a fine for the illegal extraction of amber has been set in the amount of 200 to 500 thousand rubles. Previously, it was only 3-5 thousand rubles. Officials will pay approximately 800 thousand rubles for the violation, and the fine for legal entities will be calculated in millions (10-60 million rubles, depending on the extent of the illegal activity). Today, the sale of illegally mined amber, its transportation and storage for marketing is strictly prohibited.

But there are people who combine amber mining with passion. The search for sunstone in the diving process does not violate applicable law. How do divers look for amber at the bottom of the sea? They use the physical properties of stones. Fluorescence is the glow of stones in different colors under the influence of an ultraviolet lamp. Modern devices significantly increase the search efficiency, but you need to remember the following nuances:

• the error will be excluded if you bring the stone to the glass of the lantern itself;
• the lamp will shine brighter if space is limited;
• the degree of fluorescence of amber under water depends on the indicator of the wavelength range (it should be 360-400 nm);
• nuggets can be easily found if you use a flashlight with a wavelength of 365 to 400 nm;
• when working with such equipment, it is recommended to use special glasses or polycarbonate glass;
• the maximum power of the lamp will provide a large glow effect.

Amber search is not only an interesting geological hobby, but also a good income. "Black" diggers on average earn from 100 to 200 thousand rubles. per month. Divers pin their hopes on luck, but their method is more like a hobby, although it is not without its material meaning.

You can find out how amber is mined and found by watching the video below.