By Estacio Valoi
The Canadian company Fura, which has been operating in the district of Montepuez in the Province of Cabo Delgado in the exploration of rubies, for three months has not paid $ 265,449.39 to the company REEF: 100 workers block the entrance to the Rubis mine in Montepuez
One hundred workers from the logistics company REEF today blocked the main entrance to the camp and the mine area where the FURA ruby washing plant is located, in the district of Montepuez, in Cabo Delgado.
At issue is a debt of$ 265,449.39 meticais from the company REEF. According to António Ramalho, secretary of the local union committee, workers have not received their wages for three months, this being the way found to pressure REEF to honor its commitments according to a mozambican.
According to company workers who spoke to Moz24h, this debt has been accumulating. “This debt. Yes, he hasn’t paid the company for three months. He’s always telling stories. During these months I have always said and said that I will pay tomorrow. It’s always tomorrow and we don’t have things to pay, food, debts, but the company is always telling stories.
REEF – Crowded workers also say that they are not the only company that has been duped by FURA.
“We are not the only company. There is another that is there drilling holes but it seems that they are afraid to demand their rights for fear of no longer being hired to drill holes.
In the recent past, the fury
According to reliable sources, Moz24h told Moz24h that the 55.22-carat ruby became the largest and most valuable jewel of its kind ever sold at auction, fetching US$34.8 million in New York last June, less than a year ago. After the Canadian company Fura Gems discovered the mineral, nothing has entered the Mozambican government’s coffers through the tax authority.
At the time, in a press release, fashion would publicize after the discovery of the “Star of Fura” in 2022, the mining company informed the Government of Cabo Delgado about its unprecedented discovery, which would contribute to the payment rate and tax contribution.
“Since the auction took place, we have not received any production tax payments from the mining company FURA. The mining company has already been told to pay but so far it hasn’t, it doesn’t want to pay, it must have paid commissions to some influential people who at the end of the day only harm the country. It’s like going to borrow money from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) when the country of Mozambique annually earns 6 billion dollars. You don’t need money from the IMF, which amounts to about half a million dollars and isn’t even enough.” They emphasized the sources
According to Sotheby’s, one of the world’s largest companies in the luxury art market, cited by the CNN Style portal, it was an “extremely rare” ruby, of a value and importance never before seen on the market.
The concession area where the stone was discovered according to miners and members of the local association Armando Emilio Guebuza is linked to its previous concessions, which were held by the company FURA in a scheme set up by the mining company Gemrock and Kwikwira
“If we didn’t sell, we would lose both the money and the land”
As they recall the events of 2021, Santos and Quinhanja narrate that the local mining associations were told by their partners in the joint venture that “the land was small and we should sell our shares to Fura so that the mining could take off.” A cash sales price of US$4,700 was offered, with another community benefit of two tractors, but, say the two chairmen, they were not aware that it meant that there was no longer going to be any joint mining in the community. “They told us that if we didn’t accept we would lose the money as well as the land. We were pressurised. It was just sign, sign, sign.” The two men point to their well-connected local member, mining shareholder and Frelimo war veteran Luis Crisanto Nantimbo, as the one who did most of the pressurising. “He manipulated information to convince us,” says Santos. “He also
To date, FURA and Gemrock have not returned the concessions to the communities of Namamnhuimbir Montepuez.
Though to the dissatisfaction of the Canadian mining company Fura and its protectors, who hoped to remain with it themselves the millions of meticais, a production tax of 6% of US$34, 8 million ( 210276846.06) from the auction of 55.22 carats of valuable ore, named “Estrela do Fura, finally backed down and paid the corresponding amount last week, nothing. little.
The mining company’s relutance or delay in payment was recently exposed when reliable sources told Moz24h that the 55.22-carat ruby, which became the largest and most valuable gem of its kind ever sold at auction, fetching US$34, 8 million, in New York last June, less than a year after the Canadian company Fura Gems discovered the mineral, so far nothing has entered the coffers of the Mozambican government through the tax authority, finance
At the time, in a press release, fashion would publicize after the discovery of the “Star of Fura” in 2022, the mining company informed the Government of Cabo Delgado about its unprecedented discovery, which would contribute to the payment rate and tax contribution.
The sale to Fura was subsequently registered in the Mozambican Government Gazette which noted that, for the purposes of the registration, both partners in Moz Gems Montepuez, Kukwira as well as the artisanal associations [1], had been represented by a businessman called Chandra Shekhar Singh.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Chandra Shekhar Singh is the Managing Director Africa at Fura Gems. “We didn’t even know this Mr Chandra Shekhar,” Santos and Quinhanja say. (Moz24h)
