Amber woodland drama. who is fighting for the "sun stone? Amber in Belarus - production and prices Where it is mined

Border guards and customs officers continually detain drivers who are trying to illegally take amber out of Belarus. Only this year - three high-profile cases. In February, a resident of the Minsk region was carrying 12 kilograms of solar stone to Lithuania through the Kamenny Log border crossing. The cargo was in the spare tire of the Volkswagen. In April, customs officers found 18 unprocessed stones at the Varshavsky Most checkpoint. And in June, the State Border Committee already announced the detention of a Brest resident who tried to leave for Poland by hiding minerals in the seat of a car.

In the Pinsk region, "black prospectors" failed

Remarkably, the "diggers" worked according to the "Ukrainian" technology. As you know, our neighbors right at the Belarusian border were seized by amber fever. Local residents massively mine solar stones, throwing them later on the black market. This is where the logical question arises: do we have similar deposits in Polissya? Scientists answer: there are many. And not only on the border with Ukraine. Another thing is that at the state level no one undertakes large-scale mining of amber yet. So the "black miners" come there, creating a problem for the border guards, police and environmentalists. "Diggers" have been on their hook for a long time, which is periodically confirmed by criminal cases for illegal mining.

Amber deposits in our bowels are like a ghost. Many talk about them, but only a few manage to see them. Amber is on the maps of geologists, in the pictures posted in manuals and scientific collections, but you cannot touch it. Unprocessed pieces of stone are found by archaeologists at Paleolithic sites, whose age exceeds 13 thousand years. Products made of fossilized resin - for example, beads, earrings, animal figurines - scientists find in the burials of the Mesolithic era. Research student group, created at the State Pedagogical Institute. A.S. Pushkina in Brest, back in the 80s of the last century, discovered more than three dozen amber deposits.

Then a full-scale exploration began. Today, seven sites with deposits of amber are known for sure, which are also found in Polissya. In particular, in the Drogichinsky, Berezovsky, Pinsk, Stolin and Luninets regions. The most promising and explored in detail are deposits in the Gatcha swampy peat massif near Zhabinka. There, right under the peat bogs at a depth of two to five meters, more than 300 tons of amber are stored. By world standards, this is not much, given that, for example, in the deposits in the Kaliningrad region, so much and even more amber is mined during the year.

Samples of amber from the deposits of the Brest region are stored in the Brest Regional Museum of Local Lore

The fact is that no one touched the Belarusian amber in Soviet times. Then the Baltic mines were developed. The exception was the work of the all-Union trust "Westkvartssamotsvety". This enterprise supervised the bowels of Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova. Already in perestroika times, its specialists carried out geological exploration near the village of Leninsky in the Kobrin district, started drilling, after which they said that the deposit was unpromising. At the same time, the mined amber was never shown to anyone, although the workers - from the locals - saw large pieces of solar stone ...

Later, during the years of independence, the specialists of the research geological enterprise "BelGEO" conducted a second study there, which showed that there is still amber: 325 tons lie on an area of ​​about 300 hectares. However, in the post-Soviet years, a new mining and processing industry would require investments, and it was problematic to draw up a business plan in which profits would significantly exceed costs. Therefore, no one took seriously the development.

Another difficulty is that part of the Belarusian amber was redeposited by the glacier and water-glacial flows, and therefore it is distributed very unevenly. It is difficult to extract it by traditional methods, by drilling. It is necessary to make a continuous excavation, which means that on 300 hectares near Zhabinka a large reservoir can be formed - like the Minsk Sea. However, there are pluses here too: sand that will go into construction, the creation of fish farms, a tourist recreation area, and, of course, amber itself is a fossil of considerable price. A regular fist-sized stone that will go into jewelry costs about $20-$25. And even a small mineral interspersed with the most ancient mosquito, midge or air of the era in which it was formed will already cost 150 - 200 and more dollars.

It remains to be hoped that in our country the plunderers of the bowels, bearing great harm to nature, will continue to come across in single copies. But it is obvious that the problem cannot be solved by force alone. It seems that sooner or later the state will have to take up the production itself or legally give this fishery into the hands of entrepreneurs.

LETTER OF THE LAW

For illegal mining of amber, the Code of Administrative Offenses of Belarus provides:

Article 15.14. Unauthorized production of survey works

Unauthorized exploration work entails a warning or a fine in the amount of up to twenty basic units, and for an individual entrepreneur - from ten to fifty basic units.

Article 10.1. Violation of the right of state ownership of subsoil

Unauthorized use of subsoil or transactions that violate the right of state ownership of subsoil entails the imposition of a fine in the amount of five to thirty basic units, for an individual entrepreneur - up to one hundred and fifty basic units, and for a legal entity - up to five hundred basic units.

Alexander Mityukov.

[email protected]

Albert BOGDASAROV,
Professor,
full member of the Belarusian Geographical Society.

Battle for the Amber Harvest

Ukrainian security forces recapture amber from illegal immigrants

However, the "amber kings" are in no hurry to give up. With the start of the special operation, the “diggers” of amber shot down two drones of the National Guard, and they met the special forces with weapons and in an armored vehicle. The Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, Arsen Avakov, said that aerial photography recorded many armed people, armored vehicles and a horrifying picture of the devastation of nature in the Rivne Reserve. According to various estimates, from 120 to 300 tons of amber per year are illegally mined in the north-west of Ukraine. The volume of the "shadow" market is 200 - 300 million dollars. In the case of the "amber mafia" of the Rivne region, employees of the prosecutor's office, the SBU and the Ministry of Internal Affairs appear.

For the European Union, we are not only economic partners. Belarus is also a security border. Illegals, drug trafficking... It seems that our border guards have already learned to identify and stop all this crime, which is either trying to get to us or is in transit. But the criminal world also does not stand still. And here is another growing article of illegal business. Amber. About the scope of the problem, these shots from Ukraine will say better than any words. This is how amber is mined, and this is what remains after such miners. Of course, the miners themselves earn pennies, but those who lead them are very, very wealthy people. And now we have amber fever. Back in the Soviet years, geological exploration suggested that potentially deposits of solar stone are located in the Brest and Gomel regions. And if no one mines this mineral on an industrial scale in our country, then black diggers do not miss the chance to enrich themselves. What is it fraught with, and how to resist such a barbaric intrusion into nature? Investigation of the "Main Air". In Olkhovka, every local resident knows that there is a sun stone deep in the earth. In the Soviet years, peat was mined near the village, and along with it, amber was raised to the surface. Locals say they collected stones like potatoes in the field. These very amber bowels do not give rest to black diggers even today. They leave a legacy behind for years to come. Near Olkhovka, not so long ago, ecologists and the police found two groups of treasure hunters behind black fishing. These shots clearly show the barbaric way in which amber was taken out of the ground. The diggers used a makeshift pump that washed the stones to the surface. Water was taken from a nearby canal. By the way, amber was mined by a company that officially received permission for geological exploration from local authorities two years ago. At the same time, think about it, a third of the territory of the region was allocated for research. But this is where the legal actions of a limited liability company ended. Further, the enterprise acted according to its own scenario, causing irreparable damage to the environment. Even after a while, the excavation site resembles a lunar landscape. There was not a single certified geologist in the group of diggers. In search of a stone, they left about 60 holes 10-12 meters deep. They were looking for an amber vein. According to experts, after that the forest will not be able to grow here for at least a decade. Yevgeny Peregudov, chief specialist of the Brest Regional Committee for Natural Resources and Environmental Protection: “Diggers often carry out hydraulic erosion, including under the root system of trees, which we can observe here. And the trees eventually dry out and die. These actions violated not only the natural ecosystem, but also in the future this territory is subject to weathering and other destruction processes.” Back in the Soviet years, geological exploration suggested that potentially gem deposits are located in the Brest and Gomel regions, closer to the Ukrainian border. But the reserves of stone on the scale of a huge country were then considered insignificant, and mining was considered troublesome and unprofitable. The stone is hidden deep - at a distance of about 50 meters. Small deposits brought by the glacier from the Baltic are more accessible. The most studied was the Gatcha deposit near Brest, the territory of the peat plant. There are supposedly about 300 tons of succinite-type solar stone under the swamp. However, employees of the enterprise also saw amber here. Even fragments of an amber-bearing pine are kept in the office, but they emphasize that they are in no hurry to engage in mining. Too expensive and costly. But the shadow business plays with all colors. Demand for the gem has grown in recent years. Yes, and rumors that Belarusian amber replenishes private collections and is exhibited at mineralogical exhibitions do not give rest to black diggers. Experts are sure that amber fever came to us from Ukraine. Sergei Mamchik, head of the Geology Department of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of Belarus: “Our deposits are the same as in Ukraine. But in Ukraine, this is a subject of not entirely clean business, black and gray schemes. Naturally, we will not allow this in Belarus. Changes are now being made to the legislative framework, the conditions for the development of deposits are being determined, which will allow the environmentally safe development of these deposits.” The neighbors' amber trade has reached an impressive scale. 90% of the gem in Ukraine is mined illegally. Huge territories are more like a post-apocalypse. Ukrainian Polissya is on the verge of ecological catastrophe. Thousands of hectares of coniferous forests are turning into dirty swamps and deserts. Underground watercourses are being destroyed, the restoration of which will take decades. The prospect for the residents of Rivne, Zhytomyr and Volyn is to be left without clean water. But the amber mines do not think about it. Thousands of people are ready to fight for gems, and millions of dollars end up in the pockets of miners, law enforcement officers and officials. Families are digging, both children and the elderly. But easy money comes at a cost to nature. Amber fever has seized the minds and hearts, disassembly among themselves suits entire gangs. For the amber business, they are literally fighting in the borderlands. So, during the demarcation in the Drogichinsky district, the inhabitants of Volhynia interfered with the work. The dispute arose because of the canal, from where the prospectors took water for alluvial amber. The reservoir officially ended up on the territory of Belarus. Illegal shipments of the gem are also detained at customs. Smugglers tried to smuggle 800 kilograms of raw stone from Ukraine to Lithuania in bags with sunflower husks. More than a hundred raw amber stones were washed up by diggers on the territory of the Sporovsky nature reserve and in the water protection zone of Lake Chernoye. Leaving behind 8,000 square meters of degraded land. For amber mining, diggers received a term of 4.5 years of restriction of freedom. During the year, facts of illegal stone mining were revealed in five districts only on the territory of the Brest region. Yevgeny Peregudov, chief specialist of the Brest Regional Committee for Natural Resources and Environmental Protection: “The reserves of amber in the territory of the Republic of Belarus have been estimated only preliminary. There are no approved stocks. Therefore, today, officially, legally, mining cannot be carried out. Punishment is provided for damage to land, for the destruction of flora objects. If the damage exceeds 1,000 BV, a criminal case is initiated.” However, new applications from private firms have already been submitted for geological exploration of amber deposits. There is no guarantee that the extraction of the sun stone will not turn into a gray scheme.

For the European Union, we are not only economic partners. Belarus is also a security border. Illegals, drug trafficking... It seems that our border guards have already learned to identify and stop all this crime, which is either trying to get to us or is in transit. But the criminal world also does not stand still. And here is another growing article of illegal business. Amber.

About the scope of the problem, these shots from Ukraine will say better than any words. This is how amber is mined, and this is what remains after such miners. Of course, the miners themselves earn pennies, but those who lead them are very, very wealthy people.

And now we have amber fever. Back in the Soviet years, geological exploration suggested that potentially deposits of solar stone are located in the Brest and Gomel regions. And if no one mines this mineral on an industrial scale in our country, then black diggers do not miss the chance to enrich themselves. What is it fraught with, and how to resist such a barbaric intrusion into nature? Investigation of the "Main Air".

In Olkhovka, every local resident knows that there is a sun stone deep in the earth. In the Soviet years, peat was mined near the village, and along with it, amber was raised to the surface. Locals say they collected stones like potatoes in the field.

These very amber bowels do not give rest to black diggers even today. They leave a legacy behind for years to come.

Near Olkhovka, not so long ago, ecologists and the police found two groups of treasure hunters behind black fishing. These shots clearly show the barbaric way in which amber was taken out of the ground. The diggers used a makeshift pump that washed the stones to the surface. Water was taken from a nearby canal.

By the way, amber was mined by a company that officially received permission for geological exploration from local authorities two years ago. At the same time, think about it, a third of the territory of the region was allocated for research. But this is where the legal actions of a limited liability company ended. Further, the enterprise acted according to its own scenario, causing irreparable damage to the environment. Even after a while, the excavation site resembles a lunar landscape.

There was not a single certified geologist in the group of diggers. In search of a stone, they left about 60 holes 10-12 meters deep. They were looking for an amber vein. According to experts, after that the forest will not be able to grow here for at least a decade.

“Often, diggers carry out hydraulic erosion, including under the root system of trees, which we can observe here. And the trees eventually dry out and die. These actions violated not only the natural ecosystem, but also in the future this territory is subject to weathering and other destruction processes.”

Back in the Soviet years, geological exploration suggested that potentially gem deposits are located in the Brest and Gomel regions, closer to the Ukrainian border. But the reserves of stone on the scale of a huge country were then considered insignificant, and mining was considered troublesome and unprofitable. The stone is hidden deep - at a distance of about 50 meters. Small deposits brought by the glacier from the Baltic are more accessible. The most studied was the Gatcha deposit near Brest, the territory of the peat plant. There are supposedly about 300 tons of succinite-type solar stone under the swamp. However, employees of the enterprise also saw amber here. Even fragments of an amber-bearing pine are kept in the office, but they emphasize that they are in no hurry to engage in mining. Too expensive and costly.

But the shadow business plays with all colors. Demand for the gem has grown in recent years. Yes, and rumors that Belarusian amber replenishes private collections and is exhibited at mineralogical exhibitions do not give rest to black diggers.

Experts are sure that amber fever came to us from Ukraine.

Sergei Mamchik, Head of the Geology Department of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of Belarus: “Our deposits are the same as in Ukraine. But in Ukraine, this is a subject of not entirely clean business, black and gray schemes. Naturally, we will not allow this in Belarus. Changes are now being made to the legislative framework, the conditions for the development of deposits are being determined, which will allow the environmentally safe development of these deposits.”

The neighbors' amber trade has reached an impressive scale. 90% of the gem in Ukraine is mined illegally. Huge territories are more like a post-apocalypse. Ukrainian Polissya is on the verge of ecological catastrophe. Thousands of hectares of coniferous forests are turning into dirty swamps and deserts. Underground watercourses are being destroyed, the restoration of which will take decades. The prospect for the residents of Rivne, Zhytomyr and Volyn is to be left without clean water. But the amber mines do not think about it. Thousands of people are ready to fight for gems, and millions of dollars end up in the pockets of miners, law enforcement officers and officials. Families are digging, both children and the elderly. But easy money comes at a cost to nature. Amber fever has seized the minds and hearts, disassembly among themselves suits entire gangs.

For the amber business, they are literally fighting in the borderlands. So, during the demarcation in the Drogichinsky district, the inhabitants of Volhynia interfered with the work. The dispute arose because of the canal, from where the prospectors took water for alluvial amber. The reservoir officially ended up on the territory of Belarus.

Illegal shipments of the gem are also detained at customs. Smugglers tried to smuggle 800 kilograms of raw stone from Ukraine to Lithuania in bags with sunflower husks.

More than a hundred raw amber stones were washed up by diggers on the territory of the Sporovsky nature reserve and in the water protection zone of Lake Chernoye. Leaving behind 8,000 square meters of degraded land.

For amber mining, diggers received a term of 4.5 years of restriction of freedom. During the year, facts of illegal stone mining were revealed in five districts only on the territory of the Brest region.

Yevgeny Peregudov, chief specialist of the Brest Regional Committee for Natural Resources and Environmental Protection: “Reserves of amber in the territory of the Republic of Belarus are estimated only preliminary. There are no approved stocks. Therefore, today, officially, legally, mining cannot be carried out. Punishment is provided for damage to land, for the destruction of flora objects. If the damage exceeds 1,000 BV, a criminal case is initiated.”

However, new applications from private firms have already been submitted for geological exploration of amber deposits. There is no guarantee that the extraction of the sun stone will not turn into a gray scheme.

22.10.2017 - 22:40

News of Belarus. The main friends of girls are diamonds, but not a single beauty will refuse an exquisite amber necklace. Trial mining of amber has begun in the Brest region, the Nedelya program on STV reported.

To reach industrial scale, scientists must prove that the field will be profitable. The next step is up to investors who will be ready to invest in mining and, possibly, processing of solar stone, because there are no such enterprises in Belarus so far.

Gatcha-Osovskoye field - Zhabinkovsky district. To Ukraine, exactly like to Poland, something about 30 kilometers. The fact that these peatlands are rich in amber, which settled here after the glacier, was discussed back in the distant 80s. Conducted several geological surveys. Their results were encouraging: amber, although in small quantities, is still there.

Petr Butrim, STV:
Of the 22 deposits located in the pilot area, about 15 are waterlogged. This greatly complicates the process of extracting valuable rock. The very depth of occurrence of amber is small - about 6 meters.

Only on the water surface, through the thickets, you can get to the deposit that is under development right now. Its area is 3 football fields. Under them, about 345 kilograms of amber are hidden.

Pavel Baltsevich, engineer-geologist:
This is one of the most difficult deposits - the second. Because she's flooded. No earth-moving and other equipment will get here.

And all because the work is in full swing. And this place is already half done. They plan to finish by frost. Therefore, the equipment, which is nevertheless adapted for mining in the field, is jammed only after dark.

Alexey Anisko, engineer-geologist:
We are now on the dredger. The pump sucks rock. She goes through the pipe to the grid. There it is screened out, the waste rock enters the water. And we select a large fraction of a mineral - in this case, amber.

Despite this, the very essence of the process is simple and clear: after suction, everything larger than 4 millimeters gets on the table. It is this size of amber that is considered commercial. Fractions of impressive size did not have to wait long. On the ribbon, they are golden, it's hard not to notice.

And this is about a week's catch. Belarusian amber surprises, first of all, with a rich palette of colors - from yellow and red to white, brown and even green.

Vladimir Mayuk, engineer-geologist:
You can remove this blackness and there will be a whole stone, which is without damage. That is, it can be inserted into any product.

However, it is too early to talk about it. There are about 2.5 tons of amber in 22 deposits marked on the map under the project. Exploration results are evident, but industrial scale production is out of the question for the time being. To get the first, not artisanal, experience without much damage to nature is what is really important today.

Andrei Kovkhuto, Deputy General Director of Belzarubezhtorg:
Amber is a new raw material for Belarus, which confirms that our bowels are rich in minerals.

And for this, first of all, it is necessary not only to determine the methods of extraction, structure and grade, but also to calculate the economic feasibility - is it profitable. By the way, Belarusian amber - the one that is now on the shelves of the museum - was compared with the Baltic amber not so long ago.

Elena Grabovskaya, leading researcher at the Brest Regional Museum of Local Lore:
Samples of our amber were brought to Kaliningrad. They have been processed. When he showed samples of Belarusian and Baltic amber, no one could tell the difference - they are absolutely identical in chemical and physical properties.

And this is the shelves of the store with jewelry. Kaliningrad amber is among the leaders in sales here. They even buy raw - they say it helps with problems with the thyroid gland. The frozen resin of ancient needles is considered the "memory of the earth" and the best amulet.

Irina Shcherbinina, seller:
In addition, they are interested in foreign tourists. Particularly from the People's Republic of China. We hope that the products of Belarusian craftsmen will soon arrive on the shelves of our store. And we will delight our customers with our products.

And it seems like it's just a matter of time. After all, the bowels of our country still hold many undisclosed secrets.

The Ministry of Natural Resources will draw up a geological map of Belarus

News of Belarus. Belarus will draw up a geological map of the country. This was announced on June 6 by the Ministry of Natural Resources, according to the 24 Hours News program on STV.

We are talking about areas that may contain minerals. Preparatory work is underway, as well as the search for funding.

The mapping program will begin in 2021. It is planned that this will be a breakthrough in geological exploration.

The department also noted the prospects of new deposits of ore and oil. Investors are showing interest in their development. Thus, the auction to find an investor for the development of one of the oil fields was successfully completed.

Andrei Khudyk, Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of Belarus:
Only auctions were held. To date, the results of the auction are being summed up. This is an oil field. To date, the investor has shown interest. We hope that he will indeed conclude an agreement and will develop. But this is in perspective.

Every year 1,700,000 tons of oil are produced in Belarus. In 2019, the figure is planned to be increased.

“There used to be grass here,” Vasily Zaruba, head of the Verkholessky section of OAO Radonezhskoye, points to a sandy beach in the middle of the forest. Several acres of once fertile land have turned into a "lunar landscape". Around the sands and pit-craters about a meter deep. The desert was left behind by a private enterprise.

According to the documents, the workers carried out exploration of amber, in fact they mined it. They are not the first and most likely not the last. Despite the decline in demand in China, the main amber market, black prices per kilogram of stone are still high. Although, according to buyers, the amber fever in Belarus is ending before it even starts. “Belarusians, as always, are not on time. The fever is over, and we only have a rumor that you can earn extra money, ”joking amber merchant Dmitry.

The site where the amber was "explored" is located near the village of Olkhovka, Kobrin district. According to locals, back in Soviet times, scientists found deposits here, but they were too small for industrial development, so mining enterprises never appeared here. The black diggers took the initiative into their own hands.

From Olkhovka to the place of illegal mining, about 10 minutes drive through the fields. The bumpy road is washed out by the rain. Getting here is difficult. The place is as far away from the settlement as possible - to avoid prying eyes.

According to the documents, a private enterprise was supposed to conduct reconnaissance here. For these purposes, by the decision of the Kobrin regional executive committee, they were granted a geological allotment.

“They had a project for carrying out these works, which passed all the examinations,” explained the head of the Kobrin regional inspection of natural resources and environmental protection Andrey Lysenko. “But they decided to “study” in their own way whether there is amber there or not. As a result, the land is degraded.<…>They just ruined the land.

The “exploration” was carried out by a private enterprise not far from the reclamation canal. The presence of a reservoir near the place of work is a necessary condition for the extraction of amber by hydraulic erosion.

- The bottom line is this: a powerful and, as a rule, home-made pump is connected to a car engine. Fire hoses are attached to the pump. Water is taken from the nearest body of water: canal, lake, swamp. This water is pumped underground under pressure,” the deputy chairman of the Brest Regional Committee for Natural Resources and Environmental Protection explained the process. Sergei Shilinchuk.

On August 16, employees of the Natural Resources Committee arrived at the work site. They found handicraft equipment, with the help of which they illegally mined amber, and called an investigative team to the scene.

According to Andriy Lysenko, this fact is being checked. The damage previously caused to nature was estimated at 4,700 rubles. The enterprise left behind not only sand craters, but also several stones, which the locals dismantled for souvenirs.

Interestingly, before the private enterprise, illegal immigrants worked near Olkhovka. They mined amber using the same method of hydraulic erosion. The group included Belarusians and Ukrainians. They left behind 2,267.61 m² of degraded land. The damage caused to nature turned out to be insufficient to initiate a criminal case - protocols were drawn up against them for damage to the land and they were ordered to compensate 4,571 rubles of damage.

Up to 50 thousand dollars per kilogram piece

As Sergei Shilinchuk notes, the main consumer of amber is China.

— Explosive demand — in China. There is a big fashion for amber. And the price of a stone has increased significantly over the years.

Belarusian stone is resold to Russia, and from there it is already transported to China. At the same time, resellers risk no less than miners. In May, police officers in Pinsk detained a man who was transporting 6.5 kg of amber in his Mercedes for a total of 21.6 thousand rubles. The goods were confiscated, and the entrepreneur was issued 20 basic fines (420 rubles).

Taking into account the specifics of their work, Belarusian amber traders do not advertise their activities. On condition of anonymity, one of them agreed to talk to a TUT.BY correspondent.

— We have two types of amber. The same as in Ukraine - along the border of the Ukrainian shield in the southeast of the Brest region, and like the Baltic one - in the western part, including in the Kobrin region. Ukrainian is an order of magnitude better, but does not have the same bright colors,” explained the interlocutor, who introduced himself Dmitry.

According to Dmitry, in recent years in China, due to the crisis, there has been a decrease in demand for amber.

- The fever is over. The earnings of pumpers are not enough to pay workers and diesel fuel.<…>Demand and price have been falling lately. Therefore, our fellow citizens, as usual, do not have time to jump into the last car - and as a result, we will see crippled forests and people who have not made money on it.

An amber dealer from the Kaliningrad region of Russia, who introduced himself as Vasily, told a TUT.BY journalist that in terms of its qualities, Belarusian amber practically does not differ from Kaliningrad amber. As the interlocutor explained, the price of a stone depends on the faction.

For a kilogram of raw amber in pieces from 2 to 5 grams on the black market, on average, they give about 250 dollars. Per kilogram of pieces from 5 to 10 grams - 450 dollars, from 10 to 20 grams - 1100 dollars, from 20 to 100 grams - 3500 dollars, from 100 to 200 grams - 5 thousand dollars, from 200 grams to a kilogram - up to 10 thousand dollars .

“The price of stones weighing more than a kilogram depends on the shape, frequency, color and ranges from 5 to 50 thousand dollars per piece,” says Vasily.

"Lelchitsky district is the most promising place"

Fashion for amber came to Belarus from Ukraine, where the stone is illegally mined by entire villages. According to Ukrinform, from 120 to 300 tons of amber is illegally mined there annually, and the volume of the shadow market is 200-300 million dollars.

In Belarus, the territories of a number of districts of the Brest and Gomel regions, adjacent to the border of Ukraine, are potentially amber-bearing. So far, they are not engaged in stone mining at the state level, since the richest primary deposits of amber occur at depths of about 40–60 meters and, with existing technologies, their development is unprofitable. Regional Committee of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection.

In Belarus, places of manifestation of amber were also found at shallower depths, but they contain many times lower concentrations of stone compared to the same Ukraine and the Baltic states.

— The Lelchitsky district of the Gomel region is the most promising place in Belarus, where, perhaps, commercial amber reserves will be discovered. As far as I know, exploration work is underway. There, the primary deposit is closest to the surface, - Sergey Shilinchuk said.

Crime and Punishment

In 2015-2016, facts of illegal mining of amber were recorded in Kobrinsky, Berezovsky, Drogichinsky, Stolinsky and Pinsk districts of the Brest region. At the same time, there were groups that included Belarusians, Ukrainians and Russians.

In October last year, black diggers were detained in the water protection zone near Lake Chernoye in the Berezovsky district. They had 103 stones with them. The group consisted of three people. Later it turned out that two of them had previously illegally mined amber on the territory of the republican biological reserve "Sporovsky" in the Drogichinsky district of the Brest region. The result of their work was land degradation on the territory of 4945 m² in the Drogichinsky district and 2375 m² in Berezovsky. The total amount of damage caused to the environment amounted to 49,108 rubles.

The diggers who operated on the territory of the Sporovsky reserve were found guilty of intentionally damaging specially protected natural areas and violating the regime for the protection and use of specially protected natural areas. Both were sentenced to 4 and a half years of restriction of freedom without a referral. to a correctional facility.

1000 hectares of desert

In Olkhovka itself, locals have different attitudes towards illegal amber mining. Some are judgmental, others are not. Like, the state does not produce, so people would not interfere. However, existing methods of extraction cause great harm to nature. As Sergei Shilinchuk notes, in most cases it is not technically possible to restore the state of disturbed land plots.

- We do not want to allow what is happening in Ukraine.<…>Look, thousands of hectares of land have been turned into a desert there,” the interlocutor emphasized.

Border everyday life

When I was driving along the Ukrainian highway Kyiv-Warsaw a few weeks ago, my attention was involuntarily attracted by small groups of young people dressed in camouflage who met from time to time, who carefully looked at the cars passing by.

In the head of every Belarusian resident of the border strip at such a moment, memories emerge associated with rumors that were actively cruising in early 2014 about mass attacks on our fellow citizens in the adjacent Ukrainian territory. At the same time, each of us then had an acquaintance, whose acquaintance, in turn, necessarily turned out to be a victim of gangster lawlessness in Ukraine. To what extent these rumors corresponded to reality is not reliably clear, but the sediment, as they say, remained. And, of course, feeling the gaze of a dozen stern guys on you, you involuntarily press the gas pedal to the floor, nervously counting the distance to your native border in your head.

Belarusians do not represent any interest for Ukrainians today, except as a commercial one within the framework of the restored border trade. It is clear that criminal excesses are possible, and no one is immune from them. However, no one in Ukraine today would think of organizing systemic attacks on us. The forced "boycott" that our compatriots staged for Ukrainian small businesses cost too much for the Ukrainian side, almost ceasing to visit border markets two years ago. And no one wants to repeat this situation again. The Ukrainian Polesye region is too poor to arrange additional economic difficulties for itself, repelling Belarusian buyers.

At the same time, the far from simple economic situation that has evolved over the years has led to the formation of a very special type of economic relations here. They are largely criminal in nature, which, on the one hand, sets everyone against everyone, but at the same time binds and makes accomplices. And the people we meet in uniform with or without insignia, who have become part of the daily life of the warring Ukraine, organically fit into this economic system. Winter has ended in Ukrainian Polissya. This means that illegal logging and illegal mining of amber and their further smuggling to the West will soon flourish with renewed vigor. That is, those spheres, due to which a significant part of our southern neighbors live, will gain new momentum. And these people along the roads are just the elements that ensure the functioning of this global mechanism.

We, the Belarusian residents of the border area, already those who are over 30, are already well aware of what smuggling is, especially that small household smuggling of alcohol and cigarettes, which many Brest residents hunted for the first two decades of Belarusian independence. We will not take here more complex schemes with the transportation of goods and food products to the Republic of Belarus. We understand all this, and all this exists in the same Volyn region on the border with Poland. To one degree or another, we understand the deforestation fraud. From time to time, the authorities report the revealed facts of violation of the law in this area as well. But the mass production of amber in such a region far from the sea as Polesye looks somewhat exotic for Belarusians. And even more so on the scale that this phenomenon has acquired in the areas south of Pripyat.

Polish amber. Excursion

It cannot be said that the theme of amber is completely unknown to the Brest reader. From time to time, there are reports in the press that new deposits of this stone have been found in the region. It is well known that the amber deposits are located along the conditional line Pruzhany - Ivanovo - Motol - Stolin - Mikashevichi - Zhitkovichi - Lelchitsy. And most of them are concentrated just in the Brest region. Further, this arc goes to the west to the territory of Poland, where the largest Polish amber deposits are located in the vicinity of Lublin, in the southeast it passes into the system of amber deposits of Ukraine, which stretch from the Carpathian region through the Ukrainian Polissya, Kiev region to the middle reaches of the Dnieper.

At the same time, neither during the Soviet period, nor during the years of independence, the issue of industrial production of "solar stone" was seriously raised in our republic. It is understandable. The USSR had the largest Baltic mines in the world, and it was troublesome to develop new ones. Yes, and the extractive industries were more profitable. For the Republic of Belarus in the fat years of oil and gas abundance, the state was not interested in delving into a completely new area, the profitability of which was difficult to calculate. Here and with those that seemed familiar, not always everything turned out well. One story with potash exports was worth something. Today, in times of crisis, the state, of course, does not have money for various experiments. Well, to give questions related to subsoil use, and even more so with the extraction of minerals, to private traders in our country, at least, is not accepted. But, as you know, a holy place is never empty. It is obvious that the amber industry has its own profitability, and if legal counterparties are not interested in it for various reasons, then this will lead to an accelerated criminalization of the sphere. In many respects only because of the absence of any regulatory policy. And it is obvious that the extraction of amber may soon become a social, economic and environmental ulcer for the Brest Polissya, if the state does not take appropriate measures in time for this, and not only of a prohibitive nature.

Not from a good life, but our compatriots are increasingly looking for earnings, moving away from prying eyes and organizing illegal amber diggings. At the end of 2015, the Brest media already reported that facts of this kind were noted in the Kobrinsky, Zhabinkovsky, Berezovsky, Drogichinsky districts of the region. Almost certainly, the transfer of work experience and technologies in this profile occurred from the territory of Ukraine.

The territory covered by this fishery in Ukraine can be represented by drawing a conditional quadrangle on the map with the following sides: Belarusian-Ukrainian border (North) - highway E-373 (Kiev-Korosten-Sarny-Kovel) (South); the city of Kamen-Kashirsky (West); city ​​of Ovruch (East). For the convenience of our readers, let us explain that the western and eastern borders roughly coincide with the Belarusian cities of Drogichin (Brest region) and Lelchitsy (Gomel).

Severe everyday life of the amber industry

At the moment, the main concentration of illegal mines is concentrated in the north of the Zhytomyr, Rivne and Volyn regions. At the same time, the Volyn region was the last to be exposed to this social ulcer, and in many respects against its will. The fact is that for a relatively long time the work of a prospector in Volhynia was not considered prestigious. The area was more prosperous compared to its neighbors. Most likely, this was largely influenced by its border position with Poland and, as a result, the presence of large business opportunities. Including illegal ones. Who did not find himself in commerce, could always go to cut down the forest. In general, it is also not always legal. However, in the post-revolutionary period, the Volyn region was finally drawn into the amber trade. This was largely facilitated by the mass appearance in the region of prospectors from other areas, where, for various reasons, the possibilities of extraction for them were limited.

Rivne region has traditionally been considered the center of amber mining in Ukraine. Also, large deposits were discovered in the western regions of the Zhytomyr region. On the basis of these regions, in the mid-nineties, the state enterprise "Ukrburshtyn" was created in Ukraine, which was supposed to be engaged in the industrial extraction of amber. For various reasons, the enterprise did not work at full capacity, and after several reorganizations, it ended up in the rehabilitation procedure for many years, barely making ends meet. As the reorganization dragged on, the volume of the illegal amber market in Ukraine grew. While in the Stolinshchyna and Luninetschyna Belarusian Poleshuks were digging in the beds for cucumbers and strawberries, their relatives on the other side of the Pripyat were digging more and more in "kopanks" in search of amber. The number of the population that is involved in this process cannot be outlined by any expert today. Everyone unanimously asserts that whole villages are leaving for fishing. One way or another, a significant part of the population of the entire region is tied to it. There is a consensus opinion that estimates of tens of thousands of people no longer reflect the real state of affairs. It should be noted that in this case we are talking not only about the miners themselves. A whole infrastructure of related "industries" has grown up around the field - this is the sale and repair of motor pumps for mining, equipment for stone processing, stone processing workshops, providing miners with food, a buying system, etc.

Like many others, the social problems associated with the extraction of amber have been accumulating in Ukraine for decades. Sooner or later, this abscess was bound to burst. Under Yanukovych, the illegal mining market was redistributed according to clear bandit rules, and the local population was afraid to violate unspoken agreements, silently paying tribute either to crime or to the security forces. At the same time, often no one made much difference between one and the second. After the Maidan, significant changes took place in the control system. In almost 2014-2015, information from the mining areas resembled reports from combat areas. At first, it was something completely unusual, reeking of the revolutionary romanticism of Soviet cinema.

Perhaps the most famous case of such a plan occurred in the vicinity of the village of Alekseevka, Sarnensky district, Rivne region. By the way, it is here that one of the largest deposits of amber is located. In the spring of 2014, a convoy of jeeps and trucks arrived in the village, in which, according to various sources, there were from 50 to 100 young people of athletic build. The "aliens" harshly explained that it was they who would now oversee the mines. The “discussion” of the issue ended with the fact that the local male population from the neighboring villages pulled up to the scene of the event. The conflict ended with the burning of the fleet of failed curators, 16 of them were taken to the police, 3 received gunshot wounds, two were stabbed, the rest fled. After that, local residents began to put up their own armed self-defense units and control the mining area themselves.

However, further the situation began to develop not so romantically. And in general, it could not be otherwise. The entire process of extraction and sale was illegal. Let's take a look at some numbers. According to experts, the annual turnover of illegal trade can reach up to 300 million US dollars per year. Every year more and more people are involved in illegal fishing. Only according to the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in the Rivne region, the number of registered reports of illegal mining of amber from 2010 to 2015 increased six times. In 2010, law enforcement agencies seized 4.61 kg of amber, in 2011 - 4.74 kg, in 2012 - 1.95 kg, in 2013 - 18.44 kg, and last year - 215.16 kg. Since the beginning of the year, 53 vehicles and 173 motor pumps have been seized, while in 2010 - 24 motor pumps, 2011 - 44. The figures reflect only the growth rate, but not the scope of the phenomenon.

The state could not interfere in this area. However, now the state's attempts to restore order met with stiff resistance from the miners. In the spring of 2015, in the same Rivne region, 200 amber diggers attacked a group of 40 people from the Ministry of Internal Affairs who were carrying out operational measures to curb the illegal extraction of the “sun stone”. As a result, 7 policemen received injuries of varying degrees, service weapons were taken away (then returned), as well as special equipment (they were not returned).

Recall that confidence in the law enforcement system in Ukraine remains at an extremely low level. Only in recent months, this attitude has begun to change as a new patrol police began to operate in the country as part of the reform of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which we will try to tell you about in future publications. In the meantime, a man in a miner's uniform remains part of the general criminal system, with which he is forced to share his unstable income. Local miners have already taken root in a negative image of an employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs: a policeman causes hatred not only because he is involved in protecting criminal schemes, but also because at the end of the reporting period he strives to confiscate more amber, motor pumps and cars from ordinary miners to fulfill the plan. In this case, part of the confiscated to appropriate.

In addition to the lines of confrontation described above between miners and criminals, as well as miners and law enforcement agencies, there are other, perhaps more complex social conflicts. To the extent that local residents, then criminals, or the police secured control over mining in some regions, pockets of confrontation over undivided territories between miners from different regions began to flare up. An example of this is a skirmish near the village of Sushchany, Zhytomyr region, where local and visiting prospectors met hand-to-hand. The number of participants from each side was about 300 people.

A more “fresh” and geographically close example to Brest residents. Autumn 2015, near the village of Lesnoe, Manevichi district, Volyn region. Near the checkpoint leading to one of the mines, there was a clash between local residents and visiting diggers. The locals called the police. Despite the presence of law enforcement officers, the number of visitors was constantly growing, reaching by some estimates 5,000 people. Mostly they were miners from the neighboring Rivne and Lvov regions. Here we explain that after the redistribution of territories in neighboring regions, it was the Manevichi district of Volyn that became another amber “Klondike”, where miners who remained out of work reached out. This mass of people managed to process about 7 hectares of land in a few hours of work. In the meantime, the Ministry of Internal Affairs pulled additional units from neighboring regions to the scene. As a result of the operation, about 200 people were detained.

In parallel, another vector of confrontation is unfolding. The lands where amber is mined are non-owned. Unlike Belarus, a large amount of land in Ukraine was actually divided between former collective farmers who became farmers. And illegal mining of amber is increasingly leaving the forests and spreading to agricultural land. In the same Volyn region, in one of the villages of the Lyubeshovsky district, the peasants were forced to organize local self-defense. The reason for this was the constant visits of diggers, which made the surrounding fields unusable.

Note that, regardless of the method of extraction, after illegal mining, the landscape is an absolutely dull and even frightening sight. If, for “research” purposes, the territory can be dug up with the help of shovels with several dozen holes of 2x2x2 meters, which after that, although it will not be suitable for agricultural use, can be reclaimed, then nothing remains alive after “pump” mining. A piece of land looked after for mining can be cleared of forest with the help of special equipment or burned, dig a deep-water ditch, connect water pumps with fire hoses, which then wash the soil to a depth of 20 m. The amber washed out in this case is caught using fishing nets. So far, no one has undertaken to count the number of lands destroyed in this way. But, in all likelihood, the bill already goes to thousands of hectares. No one knows what environmental consequences the amber fever will have for the regions that once experienced large-scale reclamation. Let's just say that neither reserves nor national parks bypass this phenomenon. Therefore, there is no doubt that there will be consequences.

Issue price

Winter in Polesie never lasts long. The reports of the SBU and the Ministry of Internal Affairs were full of reports of new arrests as soon as the snow melted. Given the ever-increasing activity of law enforcement agencies, diggers began to go to work at night and work by headlights. Despite the fact that almost all security forces are involved in the fight against illegal mining, except, perhaps, the armed forces, no significant results have been achieved in this fight. People are not afraid of fines or even possible imprisonment. The fine is compensated by income, the courts, in turn, practically do not issue tough decisions in cases of this kind. No one wants to disturb the already fragile peace in the region, where amber mining has really breathed life into entire settlements. No matter how we feel about this phenomenon, but it gave a guaranteed income to a huge mass of people. For example, as of the end of 2015, the price of 1 kg. amber with stones up to 2 gr. was about $30. A kilo of stones for 10-20 gr. – 2.200 US dollars. Large fractions weighing 50-100 gr. were estimated at 5,200 US dollars per kg. Large stones over 200 grams could cost up to $10,000. The given prices are quite approximate and could vary depending on the area and mining conditions.

Amber fever had its own external factors. And the main one is China, or rather, the craving of the Chinese for luxury goods that arose against the backdrop of many years of economic growth. People who have followed the precious metals market are aware that in recent years, one of the main items of Chinese imports has been precisely precious stones, precious metals and other products from the so-called luxury segment. It turned out that amber, due to Chinese national traditions, is especially valued in the Celestial Empire, and products made from it are in unprecedented demand.

Experts on the issue argue that Poland also played a large mediating role for the amber fever in Polissya. Our enterprising western neighbors quickly arranged the supply of Ukrainian amber to world markets under the guise of Polish amber. Polish amber has been traded on the world market for a long time, its origin is not suspicious. Poland retains about 70% of the world market of amber products. And almost certainly these positions are provided largely due to Ukrainian raw materials. In Gdansk, at the world's largest amber exchange, the cost of stones is already many times higher than that at which purchases were made from miners in Ukraine. The Chinese were also actively involved in buying up amber, who directly came to the mining areas, to the same Sarny, where, according to rumors, they rented almost entire hotels.

How, in turn, the slowdown in Chinese growth will affect the amber fever in Polissya, time will tell. So far, world economic statistics show that such traditional world leaders in the production of jewelry as South Africa and other countries that have consistently supplied Beijing with diamonds and other expensive household items that please the pride of ordinary millionaires have already suffered from the economic recession in China.

Epilogue

The local population is little concerned about these subtleties of world economic processes. Amber breathed a second life into the region. The fleet began to change, construction began to resume, new elite cottages appeared. According to rumors, an ordinary prospector can earn up to 50 thousand dollars a year. No one openly confirms or refutes these figures. Poleshuks are generally not very talkative people. They silently go into the forest for their hard work and day after day they turn over the rock with shovels, some knee-deep, and some with their heads in clay slime. Some don't come back. Some from the collapse of the "kopanka", some from the hands of competitors. No one keeps statistics on deaths at the mines. In war as in war.

Polissya is a gloomy region, a region with a complex history. Those who studied World War II remember that everyone fought against everyone here, and the joke that grandfather's "Schmeiser" is buried in the forest does not sound like a joke here. Therefore, no one here wants to strike a match and start putting things in order with an iron fist, even if they wanted to. Because now it will be very difficult to take away from the population not so much earnings, but how much the dream of them, covering up the illegal circulation of amber, will be very difficult. The authorities understand that they can also go into the forests, like their great-grandfathers 70 years ago. Just not with shovels. And many will leave. Therefore, for a long time our neighbors will have a state of general confrontation that is incomprehensible to a simple Belarusian, which will never develop into a civil war, but will remain a mild form of the Makhnovshchina, which allows an ordinary person to live outside the state.

Well, we, Belarusians, if anything, should calmly pass by groups of people in camouflage and not ask them unnecessary questions. People in camouflage - they are like that, they don’t like unnecessary questions in any country.

Vladimir VOLYNSKY