Ruby and emerald miner Gemfields, which also owns Fabergé, says its recent emerald auction in India generated a record $42.3m (R619m), another win to a group that just recently declared its first-yet dividend payout to shareholders.
London and JSE-listed Gemfields, established in 2007, said the auction in the last half of March also resulted in a sales record of $9.37 per carat.
The group has held 40 auctions of emeralds and beryl from its Kagem mine since 2009, generating a total $792m in revenue.
“Our most recent auction represents one of the most momentous outcomes I’ve experienced in my 23-year career,” said Gemfields MD of products and sales Adrian Banks in a statement.
“When we announced Kagem’s August 2021 auction results, we pointed to a step-change in market demand and in the prices bid by our customers, paving the way for an exhilarating cycle in the coloured gemstone sector,” he said.
That auction had generated $23.1m in revenue, with 3.5-million carats on offer, and was also held online. The auction from March 15 to April 1 was held in Jaipur, India, and 4.52-million carats were on offer.
Gemfields, whose two key operating assets are Montepuez ruby mine in Mozambique and the Kagem emerald mine in Zambia, is highly dependent on auction revenue. However, in 2020 Covid-19 brought travel to a halt and therefore viewings, with the group developing an online auction system in response.
In March, the group declared its first dividend yet, paying out $20m to shareholders, after bouncing back from a pandemic that had disrupted auctions and shuttered mines for about a year.
A buoyant coloured gemstone market and pent-up demand after a disruptive 2020 benefited Gemfields in 2021, when revenue rose more than sevenfold to $257.7m, which is almost a fifth higher than in 2019.
The auction result “underscores just how big that step-change is and we’re delighted to see the coloured gemstone industry firing on all cylinders,” said Banks on Monday.
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