[miningmx.com] – PALLINGHURST Resources, the investment firm that has a 48% stake in UK-listed Gemfields, has raised the prospect of selling emeralds from Zambia and rubies mined in Mozambique in a single auction.
“We have rubies from Mozambique coming on line now. It would be logical for us to combine ruby and emerald auctions,” said Arne Frandsen, CEO of Pallinghurst Resources in an interview on September 30. “That can’t happen, however, if the auctions are only in Zambia,” he added.
Gemfields has been restricted from auctioning sales outside of Zambia after the southern African government said on June 1 that it should have first right to sales of gemstones, a development that halted a planned auction in Singapore.
Ironically, Gemfields has had its highest value auction in Zambia. It sold $31.5m worth of gems with a higher per carat take than in Singapore, said Frandsen. An auction in April yielded revenue of about $15.2m.
Frandsen added that negotiations with the Zambian government regarding holding auctions outside of the country would yield a fruitful outcome. “We will make the right decision,” he said.
Gemfields and the Zambian government are partners in the Kagem mine whilst in 2012, the UK firm bought a controlling interest in a ruby deposit in Mozambique’s Montepuez district in the Cabo Delgado province.
