Fura Gems tallies 6M carats of emeralds at Coscuez mine

Less than a year after acquiring a 76% stake in the Coscuez emerald mine in Colombia, Fura Gems (TSXV: FURA; US-OTC: FUGMF) has finished a maiden resource estimate that delineates 6 million carats of emeralds and puts a potential mine life at 30 years.

The company mapped more than 20 km of tunnels, drilled more than 1,600 metres, and recovered nearly 16,000 carats of emeralds from bulk samples that resulted in an inferred resource of 3 million tonnes grading 2 carats of emeralds per tonne, for 6 million contained carats of emeralds.

The study is based on a price of US$200 per carat.

Fura’s mine plan is targeting 105,000 tonnes per year by underground mining methods.

A bulk sample produced 15,864 carats from 2,242 tonnes processed through October.

The Coscuez mine has produced some of the best emeralds from Colombia’s Muzo region for more than 300 years, according to a technical report in November 2017, which also notes that Colombian emeralds account for nearly 70–90% of the world’s emerald market.

An emerald from Fura Gems’ Coscuez emerald mine in Colombia. Credit: Fura Gems.

Coscuez is in the San Pablo de Borbur municipality of the Boyaca district. Boyaca is in the Andean Region in central Colombia, over the Eastern Cordillera mountain range, and covers a total area of 23,189 square kilometres.

The licence has been granted for an initial period of 30 years, expiring in December 2020. Extensions can be negotiated with the government for up to 30 more years, according to the technical report.

Fura acquired its stake in the project by acquiring 76% of the shares of Esmecaol S.A., which owns the 43-hectare licence.

Fura Gems was founded by former executives of Gemfields Group, the world’s largest emerald and ruby producer.

Before incorporating Fura in January 2017, president and CEO Dev Shetty was Gemfields’ chief operating officer and a director.

“Our focus is to scale up the production from this iconic emerald mine,” Shetty writes in an email to The Northern Miner.

The company will have to deal with the hundreds of artisanal miners in the region who have hunted for emeralds in Coscuez’s existing network of tunnels for decades, however.

Shetty doesn’t think that will be a problem.

“It is Fura’s duty to close down the tunnels that are not safe and doesn’t provide any environment to work,” Shetty said. “We are following the work schedule given by the licence agency. Fura has received 96% acceptances from the local community for the project, and we continue to maintain the percentage and want to increase it.”

Fura is headquartered in Dubai.

The company’s shares have traded within a 52-week range of 30¢ to $1.13, and at press time were 35¢ apiece.

The junior has 134.4 million shares outstanding for a $46.4-million market capitalization.