Rough rubies auction sales 93% Lot

Gemfields auction sales 962,211 carats

Mozambican ruby fetches USD 51.99 per carat

Gemfields announces the results of an auction of rough rubies in Singapore from 11 – 15 June 2019 & says,

Ruby Auction had consisted of the 90 lots which were offered and 84 lots were sold that is equal to 93% with an Average price of USD 51.99 per carat.

All together, the auction of rough rubies that 962,211 carats sold out of the 978,197 carats were offered shows an effective result 98% and that auction revenues being fetches of USD 50.0 million. One lot set a new all-time price-per-carat record for any Gemfields auction; and the twelve Gemfields auctions of MRM rubies held since June 2014 have generated USD 512.6 million in aggregate revenues.

Gemfields’ twelfth auction of rough rubies from Montepuez saw 48 companies placing bids. The auction offered high, medium and commercial grade rough rubies, exclusively in untreated form. The consistency of supply and the reliability of the Gemfields’ grading system continue to be well received by buyers, given that it reduces risk, improves manufacturing efficiencies and aids their ability to meet demand for larger orders.

The auction generated total revenues of USD 50.0 million at an average realised price of USD 51.99 per carat. The proceeds of this auction will be fully repatriated to MRM in Mozambique, with the production tax due to the Government of Mozambique being paid on the full sales price achieved at the auction.

The specific auction mix and quality composition of the lots offered at each auction vary in characteristics such as size, colour and clarity on account of variations in mined production and market demand. Therefore, the results of each auction are not always directly comparable. 

Adrian Banks, Gemfields’ Managing Director of Product & Sales, commented, “Our twelfth auction of rubies from the Montepuez Ruby Mine in Mozambique has yielded another healthy result and has taken cumulative revenue since our first ruby auction in June 2014 to over half a billion dollars.

Each of these dollars is repatriated to MRM in Mozambique where MRM has been the largest taxpayer in Cabo Delgado province from 2014 through 2017. Approximately 23 cents of every dollar of MRM’s revenue is paid to the government in the form of corporation tax and mineral production royalties.

Large, premium quality gems remain very hard to come by and, as is demonstrated by the new price-per-carat record set for any Gemfields auction, such gems command corresponding prices. As always, our thanks go to the very hard-working teams at MRM and Gemfields, and of course to our partner, Mwiriti, and our host government in Mozambique.”