Gemfields – the main shareholder in Montepuez Ruby Mining (MRM), in Mozambique and Kagem, in Zambia – announced that, in the latest auction, only 61 per cent of the emeralds were sold, resulting in a total revenue of 10.8 million dollars, with each carat costing 4.47 dollars.
According to information released on Tuesday (17) by Mining Weekly, the emeralds were recovered from the Kagem mine, in which the mining company has a 75% stake, describing that a total of 46 lots were put up for bid at the auction that took place from 27 August to 13 September, but only 28 lots were sold.
‘The luxury goods, diamond and gemstone markets are facing distinct headwinds as conflicts, elections, economic uncertainty in China and wider turbulence take their toll,‘ explained Adrian Banks, Gemfields’ Executive Director of Product and Sales.
He maintained that the result was weaker than expected, made worse, in part, ‘by a competing emerald producer who scheduled its auction to end at the beginning of September, when Gemfields’ was taking place, with some customers reporting that their stones were sold at low prices’.
‘Gemfields remains committed to acting responsibly by withholding auction lots when fair market prices are not achieved. We hope that market conditions will improve as we work towards the high quality emerald auction scheduled for November,’ he emphasised.
The British company recently revealed that the exploitation of rubies at the Montepuez Ruby Mining mine has yielded one billion dollars (63.2 billion meticals) since 2012, pointing out that in 2023, in particular, the mining company had total revenue of 151.3 million dollars (9.5 billion meticals).
