Emerald miner Kagem Mining is introducing a new blockchain technology at its Zambian mine that enables gemstones to be traced back to the mine.
Kagem's parent company Gemfields has partnered with diamond and gemstone analysis firm Gübelin Gem Labs to provide buyers details of the origin of Gemfields' gemstones, as well as to keep an encrypted record of the gemstones' journey from the mine to consumer.
At Gemfields' end-of-year emerald and ruby auctions, several schedules of high-value emeralds and rubies will be offered for sale at the company’s closed-room auction with complete blockchain records, providing customers with transparency on the gemstones' history.
The Provenance Proof Blockchain records produced by Gübelin can then be completed with details of ownership at every step as the gemstone exchanges hands in future, providing customers with an "unprecedented level of clarity over the path a gemstone has taken".
In 2017, Gemfields pioneered the Emerald Paternity Test, Gübelin’s first Provenance Proof technology, which involved the introduction of unique DNA particles that remain within an emerald’s fissures and serve to identify a gemstones’ origin on decode.
This is now being integrated with Gübelin’s blockchain record process, which provides a secure means of proving the provenance of gemstomes.
The blockchain technology allows traceability along every stage of the value chain and provides seamless documentation for peace of mind. Information is encoded, as well as backed up on multiple servers, to prevent the data from being altered, deleted or manipulated, and to ensure that the individual history of each gemstone, from the mine to the final customer, is stored permanently and securely.
London-headquartered Gemfields, which owns 75% of Kagem, also holds a majority interest in the Montepuez ruby mine, in Mozambique.