Amber Galbin, a company that legally mines amber, paid half a million hryvnias to the budget of the Vyriv community in Rivne region. Employees cleaned the local river. В interview Serhiy Opalko, head of the territorial community, spoke about the entrepreneurs.
In 2019, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted amendments to the amber laws. The MPs sought to stop "black diggers" and legalize the extraction of sunny stones.
Since then, prospectors have been subject to criminal liability, and those who want to work legally can buy a single exploration permit with the right to extract amber at auction.
One of the first companies to acquire such a special permit was "Burprom" of the Amber Galbin Group. Last spring, it started mining solar stones.
"What is the impression of the new miners," said Serhiy Opalko, head of the Vyriv territorial community.
They were beating traffic jams and destroying forests around the clock
In the early 2000s, no one mined amber. Serhii worked in the forestry at the time. He recalls that the area now called "Halbyn" was covered with forest, and the locals used to pick blueberries, lingonberries, and mushrooms.
Around 2006, we started, as the locals say, "beating the corks" - searching for amber. We were on duty in mobile groups. But the diggers would find a certain moment and start mining. They began to wash massively in 2012.
Serhii Opalko, head of the Vyrivska ATC.
Prospectors came from all over Ukraine. Locals also washed amber.
They worked around the clock. That's when they damaged most of the forest.
What has the amber law changed?
The community residents were distrustful of the law adopted in 2019. Even to this day, many of them think that the state is trying to take everything for itself, said Serhiy Opalko. "That's why people need to be explained.
In particular, that 30% rents The law provides for the local budget to be allocated for mining. That is, it is people's money.
In addition, companies are registered here, and therefore part of the personal income tax (personal income tax) they pay for their employees is also returned to the community.
Amber Galbin paid taxes, cleaned up the river
After more than a decade of illegal amber mining, it is hard for locals to imagine that anyone can work without breaking the law. The head of the community gave the numbers.
Burprom paid us 371 thousand hryvnias in rent, and we received personal income tax of 128 thousand hryvnias from the guys who work for us. That is. approximately half a million hryvnias entrepreneurs paid for the last quarter of 2022. This is only for our hromada. And the state received about UAH 1.5 million.
Serhii Opalko, head of the Vyrivska ATC.
In addition, the amber miners cleaned the Tustal River, which flows through four settlements of the community. Serhiy Opalko asked for help, and the workers did a great job. This is not surprising, as many of them live near the river.
The head of the community summarized that if the new mining entrepreneurs continue to work like this, our Ukraine will reach the European level.
Watch the full interview on YouTube: