Mozambique has only recently become a major supplier of rubies. A Wall Street Journal article described how Gemfields, a mining company in Mozambique, increased its production of rubies in response to a growing demand for these gems:

For centuries, the ruby trade… [was] centered in Southeast Asia, with stones plucked from the earth … by small, artisanal miners…. Because rubies have in the past been so rare, Thai cutters and polishers rarely focused on volumes or economies of scale. Gemfields looks to operate on a larger basis.

a. Draw a graph representing the long-run average cost curve for a representative firm that mines rubies. In your graph show the short-run average cost curve (ATC₁) for a firm that mines rubies by “plucking them from the earth” and the short-run average cost curve (ATC₂) for Gemfields that “looks to operate on a larger basis.”

b. Will ATC₂ be lower than ATC₁ for all output levels? Briefly explain.