Gemfields, majority shareholder of the company that explores rubies in Montepuez district, northern Portugal (Montepuez Ruby Mining), announced that it raised US$4.2 million in an auction of commercial stones extracted in Cabo Delgado.
The auction took place in Bangkok, the Thai capital, between 19 and 23 September, with stones such as sapphire, corundum and ruby being sold, Gemfields revealed in a statement.
“The buoyant conditions prevailing in the coloured gem market made this an excellent time to sell several years of MRM’s accumulated commercial grade stock,” said Adrian Banks, Gemfields’ sales director, quoted in the document.
Montepuez Ruby Mining (MRM) has around 34,000 hectares of concession for ruby mining in Cabo Delgado and presents itself as the main investor in ruby mining in Mozambique, and is 75 percent owned by the Gemfields group and 25 percent by Mozambican Mwiriti Limitada.
Since January 2011, Montepuez Ruby Mining’s sales account for 94 percent of the country’s cash flows of emeralds, rubies and sapphires, according to the company itself.
