Organized Mining, Regular Sales Help Emeralds Fetch Better Prices

Prospective buyer examines a 16,900-carat rough emerald

(IDEX Online News) – Regularity and consistency matters more than price in the sale of colored gemstone rough, according to Ian Harebottle, CEO of Gemfields, which operates the world’s only organized emerald mine in Zambia.

Gemfields regularly sells its mine production to gem cutters through regular auctions in India, Singapore, London and Johannesburg. The miner says its organized approach and consistency of supply have helped rejuvenate the emerald industry, pushing the average price of rough that it sold from the $0.42 per carat in 2009 to over $5 today.

An auction of rough emeralds from the Gemfields mine and other, less organized mining groups is currently under way in the Indian gemstone-processing city of Jaipur.

On offer are 3.3 million carats from Gemfields’ own Kagem mine in Zambia and an additional 458,000 carats from other sources. Also at auction are some spectacularly large pieces of emerald rough, including a record-setting 16,900-carat piece.

Gemfields wants to push the colored gemstone processing industry towards greater transparency and full disclosure of any treatments a stone might undergo before reaching the end consumer. Gemfields states it will stop sales of rough to those gem cutters who don’t practice full disclosure.