Sourcing

Fura Completes Acquisition of Mozambican Ruby Licenses

SourcingDec 01, 2017

Fura Completes Acquisition of Mozambican Ruby Licenses

The gemstone miner purchased Cobadale Ltd, which owns an 80 percent interest in four ruby licenses in Montepuez, Mozambique.

20171201_Fura-Mozambique.jpg
Fura has acquired Cobadale Ltd, which owns an 80 percent interest in four ruby licenses in Montepuez, Mozambique. The company provided this image of one of its mining areas in the country.

Toronto--Fura Gems Inc. has completed its acquisition of Cobadale Ltd, which owns an 80 percent interest in four ruby licenses in Mozambique.

As such, Fura now holds an 80 percent interest in the mining licenses, with the remaining 20 percent interest held by the respective local partners.

The licenses, located in the Montepuez area in the Cabo Delgado province in Mozambique, are comprised of more than 39,000 hectares (more than 96,000 acres) of highly prospective ground.

According to Fura, the initial finding from the pits shows the occurrence of both primary and secondary mineralization consisting of both higher and lower quality rubies.

Fura started a drilling program on Oct. 5, targeting the prospective mineralized zones of three of the licenses. So far, 1,879 meters (more than 6,000 feet) of contract auger drilling has been completed.

The mining company said early signs are “very encouraging” and that it expects to announce drilling results on or before Jan. 15.

“Fura has achieved an important milestone with the completion of the ruby transaction,” Fura President and CEO Dev Shetty said. “These ruby licenses are in the same region and geological environment as one of the world’s largest ruby deposits, and we are excited about the potential of these assets and their impact on the company and its shareholders. Now that we’ve completed this important step, Fura will continue to focus on exploration of the licensed areas.”

Fura Gems, which used to be known as Fura Emeralds, also announced at the end of October that it had entered into an agreement to take ownership of the Coscuez emerald mine in Colombia.

It bought a majority stake in Esmeracol, which owns the mining license for Cosuez, in a deal expected to close in mid-December. While the mine has been operated largely on a small-scale basis up to now, Fura said it aims to modernize the site and ramp up production of emeralds within six months of the deal closing.

Brecken Branstratoris the senior editor, gemstones at National Jeweler, covering sourcing, pricing and other developments in the colored stone sector.

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