Kamianka and Andronivka. A Quarry on a Regional Border
A worked-out quarry on the border of the Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk regions lies on the right bank of the Byk river.
You can enter the complex of mine workings, about two kilometres long and about 200 metres wide, from the side of the village of Andronivka in the Mezhova district of the Dnipropetrovsk region, crossing the river by a dam and a bridge.
Andronivka, Mezhova district, Dnipropetrovsk region. A view of the village and the Byk river from the quarry
Those wishing to walk through the closed mineral-extraction enterprise from the side of the village of Kamianka in the Dobropillia district of the Donetsk region need to cross a shallow ford about 150 metres wide and make their way through some 50 metres of reed thickets.
The ford across the Byk river from the side of Kamianka, Dobropillia district, Donetsk region.
Kamianka, Dobropillia district, Donetsk region. A view of the village and the Byk river from the quarry
Further on, a dirt road leads to the quarry, along which just a few years ago stone was carried by dump trucks. The mining enterprise is no longer in operation and no extraction of minerals takes place.
The development of the sandstone deposit began in the late 1920s - early 1930s.
The natural stone was extracted in an open cut for several decades and processed into crushed stone of various fractions.
The stone was pulled out by hand, while machines were used to remove the overburden from the site of the sandstone bedding and to transport the material.
In 1941-1943 in Kamianka the Hitlerites set up a concentration camp for Soviet prisoners of war. The prisoners extracted stone in the quarry, which was used for the construction of the road Krasnoarmiisk-Pavlohrad.
The waste-rock heaps of canonical form have already managed to become covered with ravine woodland and drought-resistant vegetation.
Over an area of about 40 hectares, a distinctive landscape has formed, with mountain ridges, pits, winding paths and green oases.
The inhabitants of the abandoned stone quarry, with its thickets, burrows and caves, have become wild animals.
The residents of Kamianka warned of the migration of wild boars and roe deer that come to the river to drink. I met a wolf cub, who looked in surprise at the lone traveller and hid in a stone grotto.
The heap formations have crept up to the blue ribbon of the Byk, a tributary of the Samara, in the Dnipro basin.
From stone blocks a decorative approach to the water has been built for bathers and anglers.
Scatterings of monoliths and boulders have formed a stone garden of specimens of various shades and shapes. Sandstone consists of quartz, silica, carbonate and other minerals. The colour range of sandstone is varied: it can be grey, blue-green, reddish-brown, yellow, red, dark grey-blue, black.
In Kamianka the sandstone was used in the construction of foundations, in the facing of house facades and as fences. The fences on the household plots are made of small slabs. Simple, affordable, durable and creative.
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