Ruby Minerals Mining In Mozambique

Ruby Minerals Mining In Mozambique Famous Cities

Ruby Minerals Mining In Mozambique especially in Cabo Delgado and Niassa Provinces are Famous for their undiscovered, untapped Ruby deposits.

The Mining Sector

The ruby mining sector only started getting the attention after the first Montepeuz ruby auction that took place in Singapore in 2014 where the revenue was 33.5 million U.S. Dollars. The ruby found in Mozambique are one of the highest qualities worldwide due to the red hue and high transparency.

The Mining Process

Ruby Minerals Mining In Mozambique for Artisanal miners usually work with very simple tools. Using shovels and picks, they dig into the earth to reach the gravel layers in the large secondary deposits

Sometimes they support their shafts and short tunnels with wooden structures, but in most cases they do not. Ruby-bearing gravel is taken from these pits and transported to a washing place. Using simple instruments such as washing pans or crude grids, they screen the material for rubies. In the early years of the deposits’ development, several accidents happened due to poor mining conditions in artisanal workings. In the last three to four years, the number of garimpeiros has decreased and there have been fewer reports of accidents.

A similar process is followed at other alluvial deposits where rubies are found in recent gravels, often reaching the surface. This requires less work since no pit needs to be dug, but the ruby concentration is often a bit lower. These mining sites tend to be much smaller and localized, diminishing the chances of finding high-quality ruby.

The large-scale operations by major companies use industrial setups with excavators and dump trucks to move overburden and ruby-rich gravel. They build up a stockpile, mining material they can process later. This is because the rainy season makes it very difficult to extract the gravel for about half the year. The washing operations run year-round, using different techniques

Mozambique rubies can be found close to the surface by a couple of meters.