Mozambique: Montepuez Ruby Mining second plant set for 2025, 1.3M carats of rubies exported last year

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Mozambique: Montepuez Ruby Mining second plant set for 2025, 1.3M carats of rubies exported last year

8:45 CAT | 29 Aug 2024

FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: Gemfields]

Montepuez Ruby Mining (MRM), Mozambique’s largest ruby mine, announced on Wednesday that it exported 1.3 million carats of rubies in 2023. The second largest Mozambican exporter in the mining sector plans a second plant in 2025.

‘The rubies recovered at MRM are sold at auction, with the 2023 auction calendar yielding US$151.3 million [€135.9 million], all of which is fully repatriated to Mozambique to ensure fair payment of taxes,’ the company, which was honoured for its level of exports during the 59th edition of the FACIM trade fair in Maputo, explained in a statement yesterday.

It added that MRM, which operates the mine in the northern province of Cabo Delgado , “expects to increase production and export levels from the second half of 2025, following the successful commissioning” of the second processing unit.

‘The new plant will triple the capacity for treating mineralised material, from 200 tonnes per hour to 600 tonnes per hour. With this investment, MRM hopes to increase its contribution to the Mozambican economy and generate more jobs,’ the company said.

READ: Mozambique: MRM to triple processing capacity at ruby mine – AIM

MRM is 75% owned by the UK’s Gemfields and 25% by Mwiriti Limitada, a Mozambican company.

Since Gemfields acquired its 75% stake of MRM – in February 2012, when mining began and ruby auctions began two years later – the mine has accumulated revenues of more than US$1.055 billion (€982.7 million), paying the Mozambican state US$257.4 million (€239.7 million) in the same period, according to previous information from the company.

Last year, MRM paid the Mozambican state US$53.2 million (€49.6 million) in royalties and taxes.

MRM is a Mozambican company that operates in the Montepuez ruby deposit, located in north-eastern Mozambique, in the province of Cabo Delgado, covering approximately 33,600 hectares.

‘It is believed to be the most significant ruby deposit recently discovered in the world,’ says the company, which guarantees that it has created more than 1,500 jobs locally, 95% of which are for Mozambicans, with 65% coming from Cabo Delgado.

READ; Mozambique: Montepuez Ruby Mining, Lúrio University partner for environment and biodiversity protection in Cabo Delgado

Ruby production in Mozambique soared in the second quarter, after a sharp drop in the first three months, and is already above forecasts for 2024, according to budget execution data reported this month by Lusa.

In the first six months of the year, ruby production in Mozambique totalled more than 1.64 million carats, a 10% increase compared to the same period in 2023, according to the Ministry of the Economy and Finance’s budget execution report for January to June.

Production had fallen by 55% by March, also year-on-year, to 252,600 carats, according to the first quarter report, previously reported by Lusa, due to problems at the country’s largest mine, MRM.

‘With regard to rubies, it’s important to report that during the second quarter there was exponential growth in production, with emphasis on the performance of the company SLR Mining, which took over as the largest producer of this mineral resource. This company was responsible for the production of more than 70% of the total,’ reads the half-yearly report.

The Mozambican government has set a production target of 3,080,895.32 carats of rubies for the whole of 2024, so the record for the first six months – 1,640,710.60 carats – already represents a 53% achievement of the annual target, while in the first quarter it was 8%.

Lusa previously reported that the value of Mozambican ruby exports fell by 80% in the first quarter, bringing in around €4.6 million, according to data from the central bank.

The balance of payments report for the first quarter states that revenues from ruby exports fell from US$25.6 million (€23.7 million) from January to March 2023 to US$5.2 million (€4.6 million) in the same period this year.

Source: Lusa