![]() "People should have vision, should be full of initiative. He used to be a sorter, then a miner, and then a team leader. The mine’s deputy director, Sakhayan Potapov, for the first time came to work a shift back in 2008. "But the mechanics here are great, they fix everything in no time." "Sometimes, hoses would break," he continued. We wear warm clothes: they give us everything, except for hats."Įquipment can barely stand the freezing temperatures. The biggest problem for Sergei is the polar nights, which are three months' long. We want to live in the Pentagon - the conditions there are the best. Everyone has the goal of making good money, supporting the family. He has been working for the fifth season. "The salaries are among the highest in Yakutia," a truck driver Sergei Maslov told TASS. But then, I’ve got used, all this is mine now," Ignatkin went on.Īnother motivating factor is the money. Morning and day - the darkness, at night - again the darkness. It was weird to get used to the polar night. When I return to Yakutsk for a week-long break, my soul is striving to return. As for me, I’ve been addicted with the nature. Once you come to work here, the North is addictive. A full man works well."Īll the workers, whom I’ve met, tell me the North is an addiction. "Right now, more than 436 people are working here, and over a fortnight they eat 900 kg of deer meat alone," he pointed out. We buy fish and deer meat from local producers, and sometimes we offer frozen fish to make stroganina (raw, thin, long-sliced frozen fish)," the technologist said. "We offer at all times fresh fruit and vegetables. "In summer, we have football competitions." The North is an addictionĬaring for people is the company’s priority, the mining company’s representative Alexander Ignatkin told TASS. "Laundry machines are in every block," he continued. After a shift the latter plays tennis at the leisure center. The living conditions are great, a worker told TASS. In 2019 alone, under the Clean Arctic project, about 1,500 tonnes of ferrous metal have been collected. On the way back, dry-cargo vessels take scrap metal. In summer, ships bring it from Arkhangelsk and Yakutsk, and in winter - from Yakutsk by snow roads, which are formed of pressed snow. There is also a snow route along the Anabar River - trucks are moving on ice. About 30,000 tonnes of diesel fuel is brought to the mine every year. The shift camps have satellite Internet and diesel power plants. After a sauna, workers may read or go to the gym or may prefer to see a movie. The library offers local newspapers, books. The leisure center’s representative Vladimir Syromyatnikov takes us around the building. "Anabar’s clear advantage is the Northern Lights, which are there nearly all the time," he added. Other negative conditions in the tundra are strong winds and snowstorms, when the snow blanket covers everything around. "This happens very rarely," the company’s deputy director said. ![]() In minus 60 degrees, people and equipment do not work. Air temperatures in winter drop to minus 60 and jump to plus 35 in summer. Local climate is very rough, the seasons change very quickly. The big complex is ideal for extreme conditions of the Far North and for 24-hours’ work. About 80% get adapted and enjoy being here." Some cannot stand this life for more than two or three months and prefer to leave. "For example, a worker in the morning receives a task, has breakfast, works the shift, has dinner and goes to bed - repeating it every day. "Every working shift is eleven hours long," he continued. It is the most comfortable facility at the division. The building comprises accommodation facilities, a canteen, a leisure center, an office, a gym and a sauna. "Actually, it is a hexagon, but the locals call it a Pentagon," the mine’s deputy director, Sakhayan Potapov, said. The nickname comes from the building’s form. The locals have nicknamed it as Pentagon - it is one of the four shift camps at the mining division. We are brought to a settlement in the tundra. The Diamonds of Anabar (Almazy Anabara) is a division of the Arlrosa diamond producing company.Ībout 700 people work there in winter and about 1,200-1,300 people in summer.Ī TASS correspondent managed to visit the hard-to-reach Arctic camp and learned how people live and work there and how they produce diamonds in conditions of minus 50 degrees temperatures and of the polar nights. ![]() A bus brings them to the shore, and then they take hovercrafts.Īlluvial diamond mining in Yakutia’s Anabar District began in 1998. In summer, workers get to the mine by the river. On the way back, the plane will take those, whose shift is over. ![]() Through the window, you can see the endless tundra, the Anabar River and many lakes. In spring and autumn high-water seasons, workers are taken by a Mil Mi-8 helicopter. ![]()
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