About 300 people on Sunday invaded a pit at Gemfields Group Ltd.’s ruby mine in Mozambique, which accounts for about half the world’s supply of the stones, executive officer Sean Gilbertson said. Two people were shot and injured by police, he said.
A crowd of about 500 people later gathered at a village near the Montepuez ruby mine in northeastern Mozambique intending to enter the mine, Gilbertson said by text message.
Ruby-smuggling syndicates had ignited a disinformation campaign earlier that the company “opened its mine for mining by anyone” for 24 hours when it hadn’t, he said. “This campaign is fake” and was promoted by ruby-smuggling syndicates, the company said in a statement. “Two people suffered firearm injuries when police responded to escalating aggression.”
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