Coloured gemstone producer Gemfields has reported “robust” results from its latest auction, with total revenue of $35m (R657m) despite softer market conditions.
At its auction held on May 13-30, the group offered 46 lots of higher-quality rough emeralds, 43 of which were sold at $167.51 a carat on average.
Adrian Banks, Gemfields’ MD of product & sales, said the result showed demand and willingness to pay premium prices for fine-quality Zambian emeralds remained at healthy levels.
“The overall price per carat for the lots sold echoes the record figure achieved in Kagem’s preceding high-quality auction of May 2023. It should however be noted that [the latest] figure has been skewed by the fact that two of the unsold lots were among the lower qualities offered at the auction,” he said.
The lots were made available for private, in-person viewings by customers in Bangkok, Thailand. Thereafter the auctions took place via an online auction platform specifically adapted for Gemfields that enabled customers from multiple jurisdictions to participate in a sealed-bid process.
The rough emeralds sold were extracted by Kagem — which is 75% owned by Gemfields and 25% by the Industrial Development Corporation of Zambia. The proceeds will be fully repatriated to Kagem in Zambia. All royalties due to the Zambian government will be paid on the full sales prices achieved.
The 48 auctions of Kagem gemstones held since July 2009 had generated $1.04bn in total revenue, the company said.
The specific auction mix and the quality of the lots offered at each auction vary in characteristics such as size, colour and clarity on account of variations in mined production and market demand. Therefore, the results of each auction are not always directly comparable.
Gemfields’ next auction will be for mixed-quality rubies in June and the next commercial-quality emerald auction is scheduled for September.
Gemfields’ shares closed 1.29% lower at R3.05 on Friday, giving it a market capitalisation of about R3.6bn
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