Taken from: Forbes Colombia
Until before the pandemic, the Coscuez emerald mine operation was virtually dead.
This is how Dev Shetty, CEO and founder of Fura Gems, current owner of the Coscuez mine in Boyacá, remembers it. The panorama now, five years after his incursion into Colombian territory, is very different. Shetty points out that they are working so that next year this project will become the largest emerald mine in the world.
The company has undergone a radical change in recent years. Even during the pandemic, they managed to maintain the operation, guaranteeing entry to company employees.
“Our entrance to Coscuez is a beautiful story. This was a nearly dead mine. It had been suspended. Many worked and were not paid, when we arrived, we included everyone on the payroll”, explains the businessman of Indian origin.
In addition, they have carried out a gender equality strategy that allows them to show results such as that today 17% of their payroll is made up of women and “it is the only emerald company in the world, not only Colombian, that has its entire washing plant made up of by women”.
The mine currently generates 700 jobs: 450 direct and 250 through contractors. Last year it already reached profitability and in these five years of operation it has paid close to $41,000 million in taxes and royalties.
THE RENAISSANCE OF THE MINE
Upon arriving in the area in 2017, Fura Gems had to face difficulties, since then it only had an operating license for three additional years and was considered a smaller-scale project.
So any strategy to continue the operation involved a huge challenge and a risky gamble.
Between 2018 and 2019 they conditioned the mine to bring it to adequate operational and safety levels. In 2019, the social impact studies began and then the geological analyzes.
In the end, they obtained the authorization for a Plan of Works and Works (PTO) for 30 years and the extension of the environmental license for 30 years.
“By December 2024, I can commit myself that Coscuez will become the largest emerald mine in the world in dollars,” Shetty confirmed.
THE BUSINESS
The businessman explained that although his core business is the exploitation and sale of raw emeralds, they have also included marketing services.
“We help the client market the product so that after they cut and polish, my marketing team comes in to build an aspiration for that product,” he said. For him, the most important thing about these services is that they help customers establish what type of product they really want. In addition, they guarantee all the traceability of the gems that come out of their mines.
The commercialization process occurs through a sales platform that has been built in the company.
Fura Gems currently has 1,600 employees globally and has clients in Colombia, India Bangkok, China, Germany, Israel and the United States.
“Before creating Fura, I had sold more than US$900 million worth of rough stones. So we know how to create platforms of this type.”