The amber mining company Soniachne Remeslo LLC (Solar Craft, formerly Sankamyan) of Ihor Mazepa and Yuriy Blahodyr has attracted Chinese entrepreneur Wang Zhikai to a new project - the development of Tomashgorod amber deposit in Rivne region worth several tens of millions of dollars, which is planned to begin this spring, Mazepa said on Facebook.
“How did we do this? Firstly, last fall, after a detailed audit, we acquired Sankamyan company, which passed all permitting procedures and received a license for amber mining back in July 2022. To understand, this path took the company more than 6 years!" he pointed out.
Mazepa clarified that Zhikai is one of the main operators of the Chinese amber market, and China is the world's main consumer of this mineral.
“I personally consider it a real victory that an entrepreneur from the other side of the world trusted us and is ready to share with us all the challenges and risks of this difficult period,” Mazepa emphasized.
According to data in the state register, he and Blahodyr each control 40% of Soniachne Remeslo, while Zhikai controls 20%.
It is specified that the field area is 457.7 hectares, the predicted reserves are 191 tonnes.
Mazepa said that direct production is planned to begin in the spring. According to him, the project will create about 100 new jobs, and the volume of resources for the development of the new field, according to preliminary estimates, will amount to tens of millions of dollars.
“The projected production volumes will be plus or minus 20 tonnes per year,” the businessman added.
According to him, taxes on subsoil use alone will amount to about UAH 1,000 for each kg of amber, 30% of which will go to the local community.
As reported, Mazepa’s investment company Concorde Capital, which in the fall of 2020 put up for sale Soniachne Remeslo Center LLC – the Volodymyrets Skhidny amber deposit with reserves of 60 tonnes – for $5 million, decided to develop this project together with partners in 2021. In 2022, it became the largest miner of amber - 8.85 tonnes of raw amber.
