JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Aim-listed Gemfields’ first auction of the current financial year netted the company the second-highest proceeds to be generated from lower-quality rough emerald and beryl sales.
The rough emerald and beryl auction, held in Lusaka from August 5 to 8, earned the company revenues of $15.5-million from the sale of 11.6-million carats.
Gemfields sold 17 of the 21 lots on offer, which represented 12.1-million carats of emerald and beryl mined from the company’s 75%-owned Kagem emerald mine, in Zambia.
The auction realised an overall average value of $1.34/ct, including the sale of 1.5 t of low-grade beryl.
“We were pleased to see a significant quantity of our low-grade beryl sold at this auction, something we have not seen at auction since November 2011,” said Gemfields CEO Ian Harebottle.
Excluding the beryl sales, Gemfields achieved an average unit price of $3.61/ct.
Twenty-one companies attended the auction, the fifth to be held in Lusaka since April 2013.
The next emerald auction would take place before the end of December.