Amber is a low-density amorphous fossil plant resin, used since the Neolithic times as a gemstone and still reaching very high prices due to the huge demand created by the Chinese market.

The color of amber varies from very light yellow to honey and black. There is amber from the Dominican Republic that is blue. The amber that occurs associated with layers of coal is called “resinite”. The amber that occurs in New Zealand coals is called “ambrite”.

Amber is of great paleontological interest, as it may contain enclosed animals, such as insects of all kinds, frogs and geckos, bird feathers, and mammalian hair. In addition, a multitude of vegetable remains.

Amber normally forms rounded masses. The largest mass of amber found was 3.5 m long, 1.5 m wide and several decimeters high, at the Merit Pila Lignite Mine, Sarawak, Malaysia.

The classification of types of amber is very complex, with 5 classes defined by their chemical composition.

There are a number of amber imitations on the market, such as plastics, colored glass, and current tree resins. True amber floats in salt water, burns and has inclusions.

There is a huge amount of information available about amber, gemology, uses, medicinal powers that are attributed to it, the ways of mining (actually collecting, panning), etc. A long and curious story is that of the “Amber Room”, a room lined with carved amber that disappeared at the end of the Second World War in Europe (see Wikipedia).

Therefore, amber is an ore of very high interest and high value that can constitute a deposit of enormous economic interest.