Montepuez Ruby Mining (MRM), Mozambique’s largest ruby mine, announced today that it exported 1.3 million carats of rubies in 2023, the second largest Mozambican mining export, and plans a second plant in 2025.
‘The rubies recovered at MRM are sold at auction, with the 2023 auction calendar yielding 151.3 million dollars [135.9 million euros], 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 fair in Maputo, explained in a statement today.
It added that MRM, which operates the mine in 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 mineralised material treatment capacity, 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.
MRM is 75% owned by Gemfields and 25% by Mwiriti Limitada, a Mozambican company.
Since Gemfields acquired 75 per cent of MRM – in February 2012, when mining began and ruby auctions began two years later – the mine has accumulated revenues of more than 1,055 million dollars (982.7 million euros), paying the Mozambican state 257.4 million dollars (239.7 million euros) in the same period, according to previous information from the company.
Last year, MRM paid the Mozambican state 53.2 million dollars (49.6 million euros) in royalties and taxes.
MRM is a Mozambican company that operates in the Montepuez ruby deposit, located in the north-east of 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 per cent of which are for Mozambicans, with 65 per cent coming from Cabo Delgado.
Ruby production in Mozambique soared in the second quarter, after a sharp drop in the first three months, and is already above the 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, an increase of 10% compared to the same period in 2023, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance’s budget execution report for January to June.
Production had fallen 55 per cent year-on-year up to March, 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 ruby, it is important to report that during the second quarter there was exponential growth in its 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 per cent 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 53 per cent of the annual target, compared to 8 per cent in the first quarter.
Lusa previously reported that the value of Mozambican ruby exports fell by 80 per cent in the first quarter, bringing in around 4.6 million euros, according to data from the central bank.
The balance of payments report for the first quarter states that revenues from ruby exports fell from 25.6 million dollars (23.7 million euros) from January to March 2023 to 5.2 million dollars (4.6 million euros) in the same period this year.
Lusa
