JSE-listed coloured gemstone miner Gemfields said on Tuesday that the Zambian Revenue Authority (ZRA) had cleared its Kagem mine, following a recent tax investigation.
The investigation started in August when the ZRA served two search warrants during an unannounced visit to Kagem. The search warrants authorised the ZRA to take wide-ranging documents and files including those allegedly “used by Kagem Mining/Limpopo Polygraphs to evade the payment of value added tax, income tax, withholding tax and other taxes”.
Gemfields said that the ZRA had advised Kagem that the matters it had been looking into had been suitably addressed and that there were no findings of wrongdoing or late payment by either Kagem or Limpopo.
In a separate statement, Gemfields also announced the results of an auction of rough rubies in Singapore that were held last week. The rubies were extracted from Montepuez, in Mozambique.
The company netted $55.3-million from the sale of 655 623 ct out of the 685 363 ct offered. The average price achieved was $84.32/ct.
The 41 Gemfields auctions held since July 2009, 30 of Zambian emeralds and 11 of Mozambican rubies, have now surpassed $1-billion of combined auction revenue, which the company stated was a remarkable benchmark for the coloured gemstone sector.