UK-based Gemfields, which owns the world’s largest emerald mine in Zambia, is planning to appoint sightholders soon. “We will first provide consistency in supply and approach third party certification for the gemstones before getting on,” the company’s executive vice chairman Rajiv Gupta said on Saturday, at a seminar during the IIJS.
Gemfields also has a manufacturing unit at Jaipur in Rajasthan, where it cuts and polishes emeralds. “With increasing supply, this unit is set to become the world’ largest unit in the near future,” said Sean Gilbertson, CEO, Gemfields.
With major advertising and marketing plans in the offing to promote emeralds, the firm will continue with its focus on the B2B segment, and plans to educate the gems and jewelry industry about its immense potential in the near future, Gilbertson said.
Of its 43 square kilometer emerald mine in Zambia, Gemfields is currently using only a one-kilometer space, from which it claims to produce a whopping 150 million tones of emeralds in July, Gilbertson informed.
“Some coloured gemstones don’t have a constant supply, as they are found in pockets and cannot be sourced from any one geographic region. Unlike diamonds, emerald;ds are found heterogeneously, not homogenously,” Gupta said. This poses a risk in the consistent supply of the gemstone.
To meet this challenge, Gemfields plans to arrive at an average production rate in three-to-six months, Gupta added. The company also announced its supply contract to provide branded emeralds to the Faberge brand (of the Faberge eggs fame, auctioned at $19 million), which was among the first to use colored stones for their precious products.
Gemfields also plans to get into the consumer segment within the next two years, post its products becoming available through the Faberge brand to general consumers by April next year.