 |
|
 |
|
|
Amber extraction & processing in Ukraine 1993-2006Olena Bieliczenko, Ukrainian State Geological Centre in Kiev In 1994 began the building of a factory with two specialised departments: for jewellery and chemicals (amber acid production). The May of that year saw the first output of domestic raw amber on the conveyor belts of the mine on the Klesiv deposit, extracted by the new state-owned enterprise. By the end of that year 1.141 kg of amber were extracted, with 1.245 kg extracted the following year. When the factory was opened in 1998, serious problems occurred. It became apparent that there was no demand for the products of the chemical department, namely for amber acid, and that meant trouble instead of benefits. The related complications lasted until early 2001, when the Ukrainian Committee of Ministers decided to transfer UKRBURSHTYN to the UKRAINSKIE POLIMETALI State Joint Stock Company, which opened a branch of its Lviv Jewellery Factory in the Rivne Oblast.
There was also a rise in the production of finished products (ca. 5 hr. = 1 USD):
There is a consistent growth in the range of jewellery products which make the right use of amber’s colour varieties (12 shades from white and greenish to dark cherry) and diverse design. Pictures, icons, panneaux and portraits made of amber crumbs are the most popular. This concerns not only the local market; these products are successfully sold in Poland, Belarus, Austria, Moldova, Italy and Spain (where icons are the most popular). In 2006, DP BURSHTYNOVE KOPALNIE and DP BURSHTYN were merged again into a single state-owned enterprise called BURSHTYN UKRAINY under the authority of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, which co-ordinated the work of the extraction and processing departments in a more efficient way. The problem of illicit extractionToday, the company’s successful growth is stunted by the least expected reason: the lack of high quality raw amber. And this in a region rich in documented amber deposits. The currently operated Pugach section of the Klesiv deposit alone is estimated at 85 tonnes according to the Ministry of the Environment, while the Vilnie section of the Dubrovitski deposit is estimated at 105 tonnes. Moreover, the resources in the three other sections where prospecting work is being carried out are estimated at 65 tonnes. However, Pugach is the only section which is operated today and, in spite of the improvement in the extraction methods by introducing a walking excavator-dumping conveyor, the extraction remains far behind the processing needs. At the same time, according to unofficial data, illegal export of raw amber to Poland is estimated to be at least 10 tonnes of illicitly extracted amber each year. In 2005, Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada (Supreme Council) passed amendments to the Geological Law to abolish the state monopoly on amber extraction. In an interview for Economic News magazine (issue 210/112/2005), Director of BURSHTYN Vladimir Miedinskiy said, “The passing of the new law is favourable to the amber industry and our company’s interest. It would be harmful to maintain a state of affairs when the “black” part of the market exceeds the official one several dozen-fold. Without these new principles, the illegally extracted amber will be exported to Poland and the Baltic countries anyway.” In the 1st quarter of 2005, BURSHTYN obtained a supply of raw amber which met 30% of its needs. Director Miedinskiy noted that the cost of supplying his company with the raw material is quickly rising: BURSHTYN paid 0.5 million hryvnias for raw amber in 2003, while in 2004 it spent as much as 0.98 million with a rise in the weight of the amber by only 11%. In 2005, prices came up by a further 18%. To quote V. Miedinskiy, “The prices of raw amber and amber products have been rising since 2003, when Russia began reorganising the operation of the Kaliningrad deposits in order to create an artificial deficit in the supply of raw amber on the world market.” Conversely, Vladimir Tutskiy, Director of the BURSHTYNOVE KOPALNIE extraction enterprise, isn’t as optimistic in his assessment of the impact the legalising of private amber extraction can have: “There won’t be any fundamental change. I doubt whether the businesses which carry out illegal extraction will want to register their operations. Believe me, after paying for the licence, leasing the site, incurring the costs of its regeneration and paying taxes surely no one will find legalisation profitable. I think that we are in no danger of any significant competition from private entrepreneurs.” In 2006, the problem of illegal amber extraction was being consistently acknowledged by officials of every rank, the press and television. Perhaps the situation will change following the measures undertaken by Minister of Environmental Protection V. Dzharty, who in late October inspected the Rivne Oblast and surveyed the chain of connections in the illegal extraction, purchase and smuggling of amber abroad already known to the local authorities. Minister Dzharty calls for a maximum simplification of the formalities necessary for the issuing of extraction licences to private persons or entire teams of diggers, who extract much more raw amber than PP BURSHTYN UKRAINY anyway. After the simplification of the licensing procedure for private diggers, BURSHTYN UKRAINY should organise its own network of collection points with enough capacity to collect the entire private output. This will be complemented by immediate decisions to prevent the further illicit extraction of amber. To this end, the Ministry of Environmental Protection is developing the following documents:
The Ministry of Internal Affairs was instructed to solve the issue of more effective operation of law enforcement bodies to track down the infringement of the right to use amber deposits. Mobile protection units should be formed and awarded bonuses for results in fighting crime in this area and should be equipped with effective technical resources. The Finance Ministry will develop the regulations for the purchase from private persons of all useful minerals extracted using simple methods or found during agricultural work. This set of firm and co-ordinated measures by the government authorities should prevent the further illegal exploitation of amber deposits and outcrops as soon as 2007. It will allow small and medium-size businesses to join the process of utilising and processing natural resources, and therefore create broad opportunities for Ukrainian amber to play a role in the world market, both in terms of the raw material and in terms of finished products. Translated by: Wieslaw Gierlowski back to: reports on amber |
The declaration of the Ukraine’s independence led to a significant growth in the interest in amber extraction. As early as in 1992, a presidential decree gave the state exclusive rights to manage amber resources. In 1993, the UKRBURSHTYN state enterprise was established in Rivne with the aim to extract and process amber.
The annual amber output in 2000 was as low as 400 kg, while UKRBURSHTYN’s overdue debts upon the transfer to POLIMETALI reached 8.3 million hryvnias. Most of the debt came from the construction costs of the amber acid factory. In order to make the further operation of the mine and factory possible, POLIMETALI performed a restructuring process, after which the liabilities were left to the UKRBURSHTYN state enterprise, while the assets were transferred to daughter companies: DP BURSHTYNOVE KOPALNIE and DP BURSHTYN. The daughter companies managed to give a significant boost to the operations. The amber extraction grew and ran as follows in successive years :  |
|||||
|
