LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Gemfields said in an update on Monday that it generated $31.7m in revenue from its latest auction of mixed-quality rough rubies, held between 2 June and 13 June.
A total of 78 out of 90 lots were sold, representing 87% of the material on offer.

The AIM-traded firm said the sale saw 68,705 carats sold from 99,830 carats offered, achieving an average price of $461.48 per carat.

It said the auction included rubies sourced from a newer area within the Montepuez Ruby Mining (MRM) licence in Mozambique, featuring a notable 36-carat stone that became the third most valuable single-gemstone lot in MRM's history.

It followed a smaller auction in April, which was focused on small-sized gemstones and raised $7.2m.

That sale would typically have formed part of the June offering.

All proceeds would be repatriated to MRM, a joint venture 75% owned by Gemfields and 25% by Mwiriti Limitada.

Royalties would be paid in full to the Government of Mozambique based on the total sales achieved.

The rubies were displayed to clients in Bangkok, with final bids submitted via Gemfields' sealed-bid online platform.

"While this was our smallest mixed-quality ruby offering by weight to date, and there is clearly ongoing instability in the market stemming from, inter alia, ongoing geo-political turbulence, China's economic difficulties and considerable tariff uncertainty, today's auction result demonstrated the resilience of rubies in turbulent times," said managing director of product and sales Adrian Banks.

"Demand and pricing for fine-quality rubies remain strong.

"Notably, the secondary-type rubies recently recovered from a newer section of the mine, exhibiting different characteristics, were generally well received by auction customers."

Banks said the 36-carat, fine-quality ruby recovered from the newer section of the mine attracted strong interest from all auction customers, and achieved a "highly pleasing" sale price.

"This is a particularly promising development as Montepuez Ruby Mining advances towards the completion of Processing Plant 2, enhancing its ability to deliver a consistent and diversified supply of Mozambican rubies to meet the evolving demands of the market.

"It should be noted that the overall average US dollar-per-carat price was skewed by a combination of the sale in April of some predominantly small-sized rubies which would typically be included in the June auction and a number of higher weight, lower quality lots that remained unsold."

At 0828 BST, shares in Gemfields Group were up 6.55% at 4.48p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.

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