Gemfields Group Ltd on Friday said it expects operations at its Montepuez Ruby Mining Ltda to return to normal before end of this year.
The London-headquartered gemstones miner and marketer halted operations at Montepuez Ruby Mining on Tuesday, after groups associated with illegal ruby mining took advantage of the political unrest in Mozambique and set fire to community buildings built by the mine on Monday.
These incidents happened in and around Namanhumbir, a village immediately adjacent to Montepuez Ruby Mining’s principal residential infrastructure.
Gemfields owns 75% of Montepuez Ruby Mining.
On Friday, Gemfields said a phased return of a number of people, who were temporarily relocated to offsite locations this week, begun on Thursday.
Montepuez Ruby Mining intends to return to normal operations before the end of the year, Gemfields said.
Gemfields said it continues to ‘closely monitor the evolving situation’ in Mozambique.
Mozambique has been rocked by unrest since an October 9 presidential election, won by the Frelimo party. The opposition claims the election was rigged.
On Monday, the Constitutional Council in Mozambique confirmed that Daniel Chapo, the candidate of the Mozambique Liberation Front party, won the presidency with 65% of the vote.
The main opposition leader Venancio Mondlane on Thursday accused security forces of encouraging looting and unrest to allow the ruling party to declare a state of emergency after contested elections, AFP reports.
Shares in Gemfields were up 6.9% to R 1.71 on Friday morning in Johannesburg.
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