In its budget forecasts for the coming year, the Government anticipates a total production of 4,062,546 carats, compared to 3,944,219 carats expected for this year and 3,946,506 produced in 2024.
“This forecast is associated with the halt in production activities of the third-largest producer of this gem,” states the document from the Ministry of Finance.
Currently, about 70% of this production is for export, which the Government aims to increase to 79% by 2029.
Ruby export revenues fell by 30% in the first quarter of the year, year-on-year, to $5.1 million (€4.4 million), according to previous data from Mozambique’s central bank.
This performance compares with $7.2 million (€6.3 million) from January to March 2024, as per the latest statistical report on exports.
Meanwhile, Gemfields has postponed the Mozambican ruby mine Montepuez auction to early 2026, citing the impacts of “sabotage” by hundreds of illegal miners daily at the new unit under construction in that area, Cabo Delgado.
In a statement released in October, the company, which leads Montepuez Ruby Mining (MRM), mentioned it has “decided to postpone the usual November/December ruby auction to January/February next year due to the previously announced delay in the official start of the second processing plant, now exacerbated by the actions of illegal miners.”
Gemfields explained that operations at the new plant have “been significantly affected last week by illegal miners, currently between 250 and 400 daily, disrupting the factory’s supply infrastructure.”
“Furthermore, rubies illegally extracted leaving the Montepuez region have a detrimental impact on market prices and Mozambique’s tax revenues from its ruby resources. Gemfields and MRM continue to work with the relevant Mozambican government authorities,” the statement reads.
MRM plans to triple processing to 600 tons per hour at the northern Mozambique ruby mine, a Gemfields source, which owns 75% of MRM over a concession area of 34,966 hectares, said in June; the remaining 25% is owned by the Mozambican company Mwiriti, in an investment of $70 million (€59.8 million).
Gemfields, which owns and operates the mine, acknowledged at the time that constructing the second ruby processing unit, known as PP2, at MRM, is “a crucial project to increase ‘premium’ ruby production and generate additional revenues for the group by the end of 2025.”
The second unit also leaves open the possibility of expansion “to other mining areas” within the MRM concession, which currently employs 1,300 workers, 94% of whom are Mozambican.
