London — The Australian mining company Mustang Resources on Tuesday announced that it has gathered more rubies than expected from its mine in Montepuez, in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado.
In a press release, the company revealed that an increase in production has led to its inventory increasing to 277,852 carats of rubies. Mustang stated that it is set to comfortably exceed 300,000 carats by the time of its maiden auction, which will take place over four days from 27 October in Mauritius.
The company had planned to accumulate 200,000 carats of the precious gems. However, record production at its mine and strong results its artisanal miner development programme (where the company buys gems from local miners) has surpassed expectations.
According to the company’s managing director, Christiaan Jordaan, “we have exceeded our most optimistic inventory targets and all the feedback we are getting points to strong demand for rubies among global customers”.
Mustang’s Montepuez Ruby Project consists of four licenses covering 19,300 hectares directly adjacent to the world’s largest ruby deposit which is mined by Montepuez Ruby Mining Ltd.
The price of Mustang’s shares on the Australian Stock Exchange increased by ten per cent after the announcement.