b'THE STATE OF RETAIL JEWELRYTHE COLOREDTHE DESIGN STONE DIAMOND MARKET INDUSTRY attracted more artisanal miners in part because the ruby-bearing gravels at Montepuez are only 3-15 meters below the surface in loose gravels, which means theyre easier to get to via digging, as opposed to its Kagem emerald mine in Zambia, where the stones are found in hard rock. Additionally, a large-scale miners community relations and how it interacts with those around their mining operation can also depend on external factors: governance, infrastructure, and the oper-ating conditions of the source country.In Mozambique, a sovereign nation, members of the police and its defense forces are entitled to come and go entirely as they see fit, Gilbertson says. Generally speaking, the operating conditions in Zambia, when we arrived, were more well estab-lished, he says.You had much better local governance in ad- Fura Gems opened an all-female wash plant at its Coscuez ministrative departments, better infrastructure. Itemerald mine in Colombia in 2018. was just a better operating environment. When we arrived in Cabo Delgado, which is often credited as being the forgot- culties and the political issues can be resolved, the growth that can be ten province of Mozambique, things were just not as developed. Its adelivered in Ethiopia is absolutely unbelievableBut the reality is more difficult operating environment. that, at the moment, it is not a safe operating country.Gemfields has run into issues in Ethiopia in recent years as well.Gemfields operations there were overrun and looted in mid-2018, The company owns a 75 percent stake in Web Gemstone Mining plc,just months after the Montepuez lawsuit was filed, but Gilbertson which holds an emerald exploration license in southern Ethiopia. says trying to connect the two instances is utter and total garbage, I think Ethiopia has staggering potentialIf some of the diffi- noting that Gemfields was only at the feasibility studies stage when a separatist movement pushed into the area and led a group of people to attempt to Gemfields opened a $15take control of the resource. million automated sort house at its Montepuez ruby mineTHE VALUE ADDin Mozambique in early 2019. In addition to projects like schools and farms, the presence of large-scale mining companies can contribute other unseen benefits, the companies contend, like helping a host country receive fair market value for their gemstones, which is one of the biggest challenges for those in the ASM space. When it comes to small-scale mining, we never want to take away from what that isbut the mentality around small-scale mining, from my experience with Tanzanite One and then Gemfields, is that the miners arent given the true value of the gemstone, Muzos Harvey says. Theres also job stability. Consider, for example, how the large-scale mining companies were able to handle the pandemic. Its not that COVID-19 didnt affect themFura and Gemfields both had to shut down their mines, and the latter wasnt able to hold any traditional auc-tions in 2020. Continued on page 6260 STATE OF THE MAJORS 2021'