Gemfields earns $53m from February ruby auction
Gemstone miner Gemfields earned revenue of $53-million from a mixed-quality rough ruby auction held from February 9 to 20.
The gemstones were extracted by Gemfields’ 75%-owned Montepuez Ruby Mining (MRM), which owns operations in Mozambique.
Gemfields sold 121 of the 135 lots on offer (90%); sold 189 620 ct of the 214 509 ct on offer (88%); and achieved an average sales price of $279/ct.
This is the first auction to include material from MRM’s second processing plant, demonstrating its contribution ahead of full commissioning.
“This auction, deferred from December 2025 to February, was well attended and comprised a good selection of rubies covering a wide spectrum of sizes and qualities from our Mozambique ruby mine,” Gemfields product and sales MD Adrian Banks highlights.
“It was particularly pleasing to see that the more fluorescent material from our newer mining areas was well received. Fine-quality rubies continued to perform strongly and demonstrated robust pricing.
“Bidding for certain qualities was more muted, a development we attribute in part to the additional product being brought to market from illegal mining networks operating in the MRM area, combined with weaker demand from China,” he explains.
MRM continues to work in close collaboration with Consulmet and the relevant original-equipment manufacturers on the final commissioning of the mine’s second processing plant to triple the mine’s ore processing capacity.
Mining Weekly last month reported that it was in its final commissioning stage, with the project being delivered materially on budget, and commissioning anticipated to be completed imminently.
While the plant has demonstrated its ability to attain design capacity of 400 t/h, several further adjustments, refinements and component substitutions are required to deliver sustained operation at those levels.
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