GEMFIELDS reported strong demand for fine-quality rubies on Monday despite market turbulence, with its latest mixed-quality ruby auction generating $31.7m in revenue.
“Demand and pricing for fine-quality rubies remain strong,” said Adrian Banks, Gemfields’ MD of product and sales. “Today’s auction result demonstrated the resilience of rubies in turbulent times,” he said.
The auction, held between June 2 and 13, saw 78 of the 90 lots offered finding buyers, representing an 87% sell-through rate. Of the 99,830 carats offered for sale, 68,705 carats were sold at an average price of $461.48 per carat.
Banks said there were ongoing market challenges, noting “instability in the market stemming from, inter alia, ongoing geo-political turbulence, China’s economic difficulties and considerable tariff uncertainty.”
A standout lot was a 36-carat ruby from a newer area of the Montepuez Ruby Mining (MRM) mine in Mozambique, which became the third-most-valuable single-gemstone lot in MRM’s history. The stone attracted strong interest attracting “a highly pleasing sale price.”
The inclusion of rubies from previously under-represented areas of the mine was encouraging, said Gemfields.
The auction followed a separate mini-auction in April that generated $7.2m from predominantly small-sized gemstones that would normally have been included in the June sale. Banks said this earlier sale, combined with unsold higher-weight, lower-quality lots, had skewed the overall average price per carat.
MRM is 75% owned by Gemfields and 25% by local partner Mwiriti Limitada. All proceeds will be repatriated to MRM, with royalties paid to the Mozambican government on the full sales prices achieved.
