Member Info for relephant

Lucky, to my knowledge GEM have never every had any direct ownership of the Nardoo (renamed Capricorn) mine that RLD purchased. The mine was owned by an Australian couple and following a protracted period of due diligence an option to buy (held since June 2011) was finally exercised by RLD on 4th June 2014. GEM bought 7.5 m shares of Tanzanite One in September 2008 and together with another 2.1m shares owned by related company Pallinghurst Gemfields and its associated companies at the time controlled 13.7% of the company. While GEM's attempted takeover of Tanzanite One (later renamed RLD) was rebuffed; GEM kept most of their TNZ/RLD shares for many years. I think GEM had been looking to offload their RLD shares for a while given the deteriorating business conditions in Tanzania and following the end 2013 dilutive but necessary capital raising.They finally got rid of their last 8,318,330 shares I think around September 2014. This would have been soon after the the purchase of Capricorn mine but before the end 2014 sale of Tanzanian assets which wiped out the company's debt and provided some working capital with which to kickstart the new mine in Australia.

Yes Granto - Ian Harebottle quoted as saying "Demand for coloured gemstones remained strong throughout the year". Gemfields has invested significantly in additional mining areas looking to the future (property plant and equipment costs of $24.515m) with profits down. The acquisition of Faberge in Jan 2013 has been a disaster with reported losses after tax of $30.22m over the last 2 years!! Faberge lost $15.101m last yr compared to total PAT of $12.347m which only gave EPS of 1c Gemfields results again highlight importance of quality mix (and the same will presumably apply to RLD). 3.31% of cts of Emeralds sold in high quality auction generated 53.77% of turnover, For Rubies and Corundum this was even more marked with 82.02% of turnover coming from just 2.71% of total cts sold (in high quality auction). While there is substantial inventory and there will be a lag between production and sales, still interesting to note that total cts of Emeralds and Rubies/Coroundum sold only accounted for about half of total cts mined during the year (53.19% for Emeralds 48.46% Rubies). The average prices/ct sold were $4.06 (Emeralds) and $21.76 (Rubies). However if you take turnover divided by cts mined the average/ct mined drops to $2.16 (Emeralds) and $10.54 (Rubies). An auction of higher quality Amythyst also got $1.77/ct. See there has been heavy investment in new Emerald mines and Gemfields entered into an agreement with "East West Gem Investments Limited ("EWGI"), a Jersey registered company, to progress opportunities in Sri Lanka for sapphires". "Our ambition to supply the global market with the red, blue and green 'traffic light' of coloured gemstones took a step closer in September 2014 when we were able to announce our move into Sri Lankan sapphires. Sri Lanka is recognised as one of the most important sources of higher quality sapphires in the world today and we look forward to introducing Sri Lankan sapphires to the Gemfields auction platform in the not too distant future." "As part of the agreement, a gemstone trading company called Ratnapura Lanka Gemstones (Pvt) Ltd ("Ratnapura Lanka Gemstones") was created, of which Gemfields own 75%. This company has been approved by the Board of Investments of Sri Lanka and was created to source rough sapphires from pre-vetted parties already operating within the local market. This will help promote a transparent and ethical gemstone platform in order to realise the full value of sapphires and to the benefit of local industry and all stakeholders. Ratnapura Lanka Gemstones has since applied and been granted a trading licence by the Board of Investment Sri Lanka which has allowed the company to procure several small shipments of Sri Lankan sapphires for analysis. The venture has also acquired 75% operating interests in certain exploration licences covering diverse minerals and plans to co

Presume Charlie Long is projecting a return to profitability by the end of the year rather than for the whole year. In his earlier analyst report he predicted profits from FY2016 onwards. Like everyone else I await the operational and sales update due later this month with interest. Indications of a return to profitability (while being debt free and with a healthy balance sheet) would represent a fantastic turn around given the dire position the company was in when still operating in Tanzania.

Delighted to see how costs have been kept in check during start up with $3.4m cash and cash equiv. still in reserve. In Tanzania CEO Bernard Olivier previously demonstrated a willingness to keep costs under control. Great news for shareholders is that further dilutive capital raising should not be needed in getting mine production ramped up and into profitability. Hopefully start up delays caused by the plant standing for several years have been sorted. Visit of Shore Capital's mining analyst suggest an analyst report may be in the offing. Pleased to see that "ramp up continues on target as sapphire production is continually optimized and increased". Await the promised Q3 operational and sales update due next month with interest.