The 37 kg Kafubu cluster has held a record for the most expensive Gemfields emerald ever sold.
The massive 187,700-carat Kafubu cluster has set a new record as the most expensive individual emerald item ever sold by Gemfields, the gemstone group announced Friday.
However, the 37 kg “special interest piece” lowered the auction results in terms of average price per carat of $76.78, compared to $155.90 per carat at the previous auction.
Total auction proceeds of $30.8m (R533m), from 34 lots sold, helped propel Kagem’s total auction sales in 2022 to a “record high” of $149m, up from a record of $92.3 million set in 2021. The Kafubu Cluster comprised 44% of the total weight offered at the auction, Gemfields said.
The group sale price is not available as Gemfields does not report the sale value of individual lots.
Kafubu, like the other emeralds, was mined by hand from the Kagem Emerald Mine, the world’s largest producing emerald mine, which is 75% owned by Gemfields and 25% owned by the Development Corporation. Zambian Industry.
The group is made up almost entirely of emeralds which, given its large size and formation, makes it a very rare find, Gemfields said.
The large mass is filled with numerous individual and interlocking emerald crystals and is named after the Kafubu River, which forms the natural boundary of Kagem in the southern part of the Kagem leave.
Gemfields said a client may decide to keep this in its natural form or cut the piece to produce tens of thousands of carats of commercial to fine cut emeralds.
Adrian Banks, Gemfields managing director of product and sales, said the year-end emerald auction delivered a nice and strong result “despite a clear decline in both prices and sentiment compared to the notable highs we enjoyed in May 2022”.
The proceeds from the Gemfields auction will be repatriated in full to Kagem in Zambia, and all royalties due to the Government of the Republic of Zambia will be paid on the full sale prices achieved at the auction.
Gemfields shares rose 3.43% to R3.62 on Friday afternoon, and are up more than a quarter on last year.
Click here for details on Gemfields shares and other information.
