Modern-day amber ‘Klondikes’ thrive in troubled Ukraine

KRYVYTSYA: Volodymyr Korkosh steps on the accelerator and his jeep lurches forward, jumping through deep water-filled ditches. “We often come too late by just two to three minutes,” the police officer shouts in disappointment.

His unit carries out daily raids on the outskirts of the village of Kryvytsya and nearby settlements in northwestern Ukraine’s Rivne region, aimed at catching locals red-handed mining amber illegally.

Once a scenic forest area, the site has been turned into a moonscape with wet marshy sand on the surface and man-made, funnel-like pits scattered for hundreds of metres around, evidence of work by hundreds of illicit prospectors.

This site, which locals call a “Klondike” in reference to a 19thcentury gold rush in Canada, is one of a number of amber fields in Ukraine, which has the world’s second-largest reserves of amber – some 15,000 tonnes – after Russia, according to the country’s state geology committee.

Amber is the translucent resin of trees which fossilised over millions of years and ranges in colour from pale yellow to deep brown. It is used as a gemstone in jewellery making.

But as prices for amber have quadrupled in recent years, fuelled by demand from China, Ukraine has suffered from an illegal mining crisis.

Legal mining in Ukraine produced just four tonnes of the mineral in 2015, according to the most recent available figures, while unlawful methods of amber extraction have reaped 120 to 300 tonnes annually in recent years, said the geology committee.

“The state suffers missed financial opportunities that are huge. In addition, we can already talk about an environmental disaster,” it said in a written comment to AFP.

Prospecting for amber involves applying high-pressure water to the ground. That loosens the amber, which then floats to the surface, but also erodes the fertile top soil to the point that trees can no longer grow there.

Amber poachers have also cleared huge plots of forest in order to ease access to amber-rich sites.

Illegal prospectors admit they cause damage but say the work is the only way to make ends meet in a deprived region.

“Some people there live below the poverty line,” Oleg, a 28-yearold miner, who wanted to give only his first name, told AFP.

“I was constantly scared, but the adrenaline and the taste of the first big money blocked that fear,” he said, having recently spent four months mining amber in his native northwestern Zhytomyr region, which neighbours Rivne. — AFP