Chinese firm eyeing on Bayburt’s amber reserve

BAYBURT

A Chinese company is aspiring to purchase the amber that the villagers in the northeastern province of Bayburt had once burned for years, thinking that it was kindling wood.

The Huoruo Industry Group, a Chinese jewelry design firm, has become a potential buyer for the natural amber reserve detected in Bayburt’s Aydıncık village in 2018.

The parties reached an agreement as a result of the negotiations for the export of natural amber, which the villagers had previously used to light a fire, thinking that it was kindling wood.

Heytam Haşlak, the licensee of the amber reserve area, announced that a preliminary agreement was signed with the company, noting that they delivered a few samples in the first stage in line with the request of the company representatives.

“They liked our product. They took the samples. We made a preliminary agreement. After that, the work will continue,” Haşlak said.

Shao Gunag Hui, the manager of the Chinese firm, pointed out that amber has an important and sacred place in the Buddhist belief, adding that amber is the most important of the seven items considered sacred in Buddhism.

“The amber market in China is huge. Some 75 percent of the amber mined in the world is sent to China,” Shao said, noting that amber is mostly used for jewelry, in temples or as a sedative in the pharmaceutical industry.

The manager also stated that there is a possibility to set up a facility in Bayburt to process the extracted amber and send it directly to China.

Much valued from antiquity to the present as a gemstone, amber is made into a variety of decorative objects around the world.

It has also been once used as a healing agent in folk medicine.