Polish the gems and the image

Everybody loves a sparkler, but there has come to be a realisation that the radiance of the Romeo and Juliet moment can be dimmed if there’s a suspicion that the rock in question might have been dug up by an enslaved child to boost the Swiss bank account of some murderous warlord. Gemfields is keen to stress its ESG credentials, working to minimise the environmental effect of its operations while maximising the benefit to the communities around the mines and its host nations in general.

This gives confidence to the luxury brands Gemfields supplies and also to the consumer that the bauble they are proud to sport is not a monument to exploitation but a positive benefit for development in its country of origin. Gemfields is mining highquality emeralds in Zambia through Kagem Mining and rubies in northern Mozambique at Montepuez.

It feeds the stones into its legendary Fabergé brand, the jeweller of choice to Tsarist Russia until the Bolsheviks brought that party to an abrupt halt.

With admirable understatement the company describes its working conditions in Mozambique as “difficult”, what with the Cabo Delgado insurgency forcing it to evacuate the mine in October. But with high-grade sangfroid it was back at work a few days later, and remains the largest taxpayer in the province, as it has been for many years. In 2022 Gemfields reported record revenues across all three of its operating units, and while inflationary pressures are affecting the cost base, it is expecting another strong year in 2023.

It’s hardly a ringing vote of confidence in Transaction Capital’s future no matter how you spin it