Huge shovels, Extractors, inside the Palmnicken open pit amber mine on the Baltic Sea near Yantarny, Russia.

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Huge shovels, Extractors, inside the Palmnicken open pit amber mine on the Baltic Coast of Russia. The “Blue Earth” containing Amber is scooped from the shoreline by the shovels and transported to the spray house at the mine where high pressure water separates the amber from the excavated earth. The Palmnicken open pit mine was established in the mid-1800s and was completely mechanized by 1930. The open pit amber mine became the largest in the world and it has been estimated that 90% of world’s known amber is located there. Ecological groups have warned of the environmental damage done to the Baltic Sea by the excavation as well as the waste water from the high pressure washing of the soil to extract the amber. The Baltic Sea region is the world’s original source of amber and stones from this region have been found in Neolithic burial sites and Egyptian tombs dating back to 3200 Amber from the Palmnicken mine was used in the restoration of the Amber Room at the Catherine Palace at Tsarskoye Selo outside of Saint Petersburg, Russia. Photo by Chuck Nacke

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Size: 5200px × 3276px
Location: Palmnicken Amber mine, Yantarny, Kaliningrad Oblast, Baltic Sea, Russia
Photo credit: © Chuck Nacke / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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