London-based gemstone miner Gemfields reported profit loss for the year of 2023 due partly to the cancellation of a high-quality emerald auction in November, a lower number of carats sold and a write-down in its platinum group metals investments.
Gemfields recorded a 23-percent drop in revenue, amounting to $262 million from $341.1 million, and recorded a loss after tax of $2.8 million, a significant shift from the $74.3 million profit reported in 2022. According to the miner, the loss is primarily the result of a $28 million impairment on its Sedibelo platinum operation in South Africa.
The loss was offset in large part by strong sales from the company’s Kagem emerald mine in Zambia and Montepuez ruby deposit in Mozambique, which together led Gemfields to its second-highest revenue. Revenue from Kagem mine fell 40 percent to $89.9 million. Earnings at the Montepuez mine dropped by 9 percent to $151.4 million.
In addition, the company had to cancel its November auction of high-quality emeralds due to overall lower quality and quantity of premium emerald production at Kagem The auction was held from March 5 to March 22 in 2024. The auction brought in $17.1 million sales, lower than the $25.5 million revenue achieved at the previous auction from August to September last year. It sold 93 percent of the emeralds offered, equivalent to 3.85 million rough stones at an average price of $4.45 per carat.
Gemfields CEO Sean Gilbertson said: “In what has been a year of both achievements and challenges, Gemfields recorded its second-highest annual revenues alongside seeing record prices being paid for our rough coloured gemstones sold at auction.”
Gemfields said that it will hold its first auctions of high-quality emeralds and mixed-quality rubies in the second quarter of this year. It has also invested in constructing a second processing plant at Montepuez, which it believes will strengthen its ruby business, said the miner.
08-04-2024
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