Revenues from a Singapore auction of rough ruby extracted by Gemfields’ 75%-owned Montepuez Ruby Mining in Mozambique raised $30.4m – the fourth highest ruby auction result to date.

The average realized price was $27.79 per carat and 1,094,406 carats were sold (80% by weight or 85% by market value) out of the total of 1,372,145 carats offered.

Gemfields says seven Montepuez auctions have been held since June 2014 generating $225.7 million in aggregate revenues.

Chief executive Ian Harebottle said: “We are very pleased with the results of Gemfields’ seventh Montepuez ruby auction despite some of our customers being unable to attend while they adjust to the regional demonetization policy changes they’ve experienced over the past few weeks.

“The prices achieved at this auction, combined with the high percentage of the value sold, fully support our view of ongoing solid demand for responsibly sourced Mozambican rubies across key markets and categories. The recent prices obtained for fine cut-and-polished Mozambican rubies by international auction houses further underscore the exciting trajectory for rubies from Mozambique.

“As always, we thank our customers, our business partners, our host government and give credit to every member of our devoted and hard-working global team.”

Sant Enterprises is an Authorized Auction Partner of Gemfields and has a selection of first grade Mozambique rubies acquired from the Gemfield mines in single, pairs, layouts and calibrated sizes.