Mozambique: Ruby production falls 35.6% in 2023 to 2.7M carats

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Mozambique: Ruby production falls 35.6% in 2023 to 2.7M carats

4:05 CAT | 11 Mar 2024

File photo: Lusa

Production of rubies in Mozambique fell by 35.6% in 2023 compared to the previous year, to just over 2.7 million carats of the precious stone, less than half of what was initially planned.

According to data from the Ministry of Economy and Finance’s budget execution report for 2023, to which Lusa had access today, ruby production in Mozambique totalled 2,710,617 carats, against the 7,058,199 initially forecast by the government.

In 2022, Mozambique produced 4,212,041 carats of that precious stone and in the previous year 5,011,723 carats.

“As for ruby, the mineral with the greatest weight in the overall structure in the group of precious and semi-precious stones, it continues to underperform by 38% compared to the annual plan and a decrease in production of around 35.6% compared to the same period last year,” reads the budget execution report.

“This result was largely due to the low production levels of the largest producer, associated with breakdowns in production equipment and the attacks that took place at its mine in October 2022,” it added.

Mining company Gemfields announced in December that auctions of precious stones, particularly rubies, mined in Montepuez, northern Mozambique, have already generated total revenue of €974 million over nine years.

In a statement, Gemfields, which leads Montepuez Ruby Mining (MRM), said that these 21 auctions, held since June 2014, “have generated” $1.049 billion (€974 million) in total revenue.

The last of these auctions took place between 20 November and 5 December, after 97 lots of rubies, comprising 239,591 carats, were presented to investors in Bangkok, generating a total revenue of $69.5 million from the trading of raw rubies of mixed quality.

“The proceeds of this auction will be fully repatriated to MRM in Mozambique, with all royalties due to the government of Mozambique being paid on the total sale price achieved at the auction,” explained Gemfields.

The raw rubies sold between November and December were mined by Montepuez Ruby Mining in Cabo Delgado, northern Mozambique a company that is 75% owned by Gemfields and 25% by its Mozambican partner Mwiriti, and reached an average price of $290.02 (€269) per carat.

“We’ve seen ruby prices at our auctions rise ever higher in recent years, and our final 2023 auction further endorsed this trend. This auction showed that demand and the price of raw rubies are decidedly healthy. Gemfields’ total auction revenue for 2023 is $242 million [€224.6 million], the second highest in our history,” said Adrian Banks, managing director of products and sales at Gemfields, quoted in the same press release.

This latest auction also took Gemfields past the “milestone” of $2 billion (€1.856 billion) in accumulated sales at emerald and ruby auctions.

Gemfields presents itself as a world leader in the extraction and marketing of coloured gemstones, also holding a 75% share in the Kagem emerald mine in Zambia, described as the largest emerald producing mine in the world.

The Montepuez ruby mine in Mozambique is considered to be one of the most significant deposits of recently discovered rubies in the world.

Source: Lusa