Kaliningrad Amber meets 600-tonne production target for 2024 early

KALININGRAD. Oct 9 (Interfax) - The Kaliningrad Amber Combine (KAC), a wholly owned subsidiary of Russian state corporation Rostec, has met its 2024 target to produce 600 tonnes of raw amber ahead of schedule, the company said.

KAC started mining amber this year on March 1 and reached the target of 600 tonnes by the end of the workday on October 8, a month earlier than planned.

Mining will continue, which will enable KAC to increase the final production figure for the year, the press release said.

KAC is mining amber at only one deposit this year, the Primorsky mine. Last year it worked at two deposits, one of which is now completely depleted and no longer used. As a result, it was able to produce 630 tonnes of amber in 2023.

"This year we set a high bar, to bring production at the Primorsky mine up to 600 tonnes. Despite additional efforts related to the difficult structure of the [amber-bearing strata] in the area of glacial erosion, we managed the target. The last 50 tonnes of amber were recovered in difficult geological conditions. This required additional drilling and processing of a large amount of rock," KAC chief executive Mikhail Zatsepin said in the press release.

The Primorskoye amber deposit in Kaliningrad Region is the largest in the world, with reserves estimated at more than 53,000 tonnes, which is enough to keep it working for another 100 years.