This article first appeared in the JNA April/March 2023 issue.

In an exclusive tete-a-tete with JNA, FURA Gems CEO and Founder Dev Shetty talks about what motivated him to start a mining company, the key to the fast turnaround of FURA’s mines and how every stakeholder in the coloured gemstone industry stands to benefit by collaborating with FURA.

JNA: You are a qualified chartered accountant. How did you take the entrepreneurial plunge into coloured gemstone mining?

Dev Shetty: I gained significant experience during my tenure with the Pallinghurst Group where I was tasked to bring to profitability a small, loss-making part of the group’s portfolio: a coloured gemstone company. I was able to break even within 15 months while, at the same time, scaling up the business. In 2017, after a decade as COO and a board member at Gemfields, I knew it was time to move on. I saw the tremendous opportunity to further contribute to the severely fragmented and unorganised coloured gemstone sector by starting a mining company from scratch.

JNA: FURA has had stupendous growth in the last few years. What was the crucial factor leading to its success?

Shetty: Yes, we've grown at an unprecedented pace. Our three mining subsidiaries in Colombia, Mozambique and Australia produce emeralds, rubies and sapphires, respectively, and employ over 1,200 people. Knowing that the cost of operating a mine is enormous, we decided to always pick discovered mines with abundant, scalable resources across countries. This helped us save significantly on time allotted for exploration, compared with other miners, some of whom have taken over a decade for mine exploration. It has made the journey of FURA’s roughs from mine to market the fastest and is, by far, the most strategically advantageous decision for the company.

JNA: What is your overarching vision for FURA Gems?

Shetty: We are ambitious about the global future of coloured gemstones. We aim to spread trade transparency by providing ethically and responsibly mined coloured gemstones with complete traceability from the mine of origin to the end consumer. I want FURA to be the driving force in an industry that, so far, has lacked a unifying vision.

JNA: How is FURA Gems aiding the growth of stakeholders in the coloured gemstone industry?

Shetty: We are the first and the only mining company in the world to explore and mine all three coloured gemstone categories: emeralds, rubies and sapphires. We have auction platforms for each type, enabling us to expand our reach to trade buyers. We are ramping up operations in each vertical, and the rising curve is intended to solve the biggest bottleneck of the colour gemstone trade: stability of supply.