Gemfields shares soar on ‘knock out’ auction results

Photo by Duncan Pay © GIA | Courtesy of The Smithsonian Institution.

Shares in Gemfields (LON:GEM) shot up Monday morning as the precious stones miner reported “knock-out” results from its auction of predominantly lower quality rough emeralds at its recent auction in Jaipur, India.

The stock traded as high as 44.35 pence or 5.6% higher in early morning as the London-listed miner, the world’s biggest emerald producer, said it had raised $19.2 million from the auction of the gems extracted by its Kagem Mining Ltd subsidiary in Zambia.

A total of 29 companies placed bids in Gemfields’ second auction of Kagem output, the first one held outside of Zambia since June 2012.

The Jaipur event was also used to host a traded emerald auction of predominantly higher quality emeralds from Zambia and Brazil, which were obtained by the firm in the open market from various sources. The traded auction yielded additional gross revenue of $1.1 million with 20,400 carats sold.

The figures, while important, are still a long way from the sparkling auctions where highly-polished gems usually fetch prices able to turn a company’s fortune around. Earlier this month billionaire Joseph Lau in Hong Kong paid $48.5 million for the Blue Moon weighing 12.03 carats. It was the most ever paid at auction for a gemstone.

The emeralds and rubies miner’s next auction will take place next month in Singapore, and Gemfields anticipates it will be predominantly comprised of mixed lots of ruby and corundum from the Montepuez ruby deposit in Mozambique.