Modern Mining April 2015

feature COUNTRY FOCUS – ZAMBIA full operational responsibility in 2009.” Ian Harebottle, CEO, Gemfields

supply of ‘responsibly sourced’ emeralds to world markets. “A major step forward in this direction was taken in 2009 when we introduced a ground- breaking, fully transparent emerald grading and auction system. Today, we hold four auc- tions a year of Kagem’s products, some in Zambia and some overseas, and these have been overwhelmingly successful. Indeed, at our auction of predominantly higher-quality rough emeralds held in November last year we raised US$34,9 million at an average value of US$65,89 per carat, which is a new record for higher quality emerald auctions.” He added that further elements of the strategy have included the launch of a global emerald mar- keting campaign in 2011 and the appointment of American actress, Mila Kunis, as Gemfields’ global brand ambassador in 2013. From the point of view of Modern Mining ’s readers, the more interesting side of the over- all Kagem/Gemfields operation is the mining and processing on site and this was explained during our visit by Robert Gessner, Senior Manager – Geology for Kagem Mining. A spe- cialist in coloured gemstones (prior to joining Kagem he was also at the tanzanite mine in Tanzania), he said that the emerald and beryl mineralisation on the Kagem property occurs at the interface between two rock types – a feldspar biotite rich pegmatite and a talc chlo- rite magnetite schist (TMS). “The pegmatites cross cut the TMS, form- ing reaction zones which host the emerald and beryl. These reaction zones, which can range

invested heavily, has been obtained from Caterpillar, via Barloworld Equipment Zambia, and Bell Equipment and is very well main- tained. Our labour force of around 600 is now fully unionised, a development which we’ve insisted on, and all eligible employees have been placed on permanent and pensionable terms. Salaries are going up and employees have been granted a basic increment of 14 % for 2014-2015 with a further 14 % pre-negotiated for 2015-2016. We’ve also made a concerted effort to improve on health, environmental and safety standards and, in fact, Kagem has enjoyed an unblemished safety record since we took over with not a single reportable injury having occurred since we assumed full operational responsibility in 2009. We’ve now worked over 3 million injury-free shifts.” Harebottle – who is South African born and who was COO of the then TanzaniteOne tanza- nite mine in Tanzania before joining Gemfields – added that the mine had now also been connected to the Zambian electrical grid via a 33 kV line which had cost Kagem US$0,6 mil- lion to install. Of course, improving production and low- ering costs at Kagem is only one half of the equation that Gemfields has had to solve since entering the emerald market. “The other half has been the marketing of the mine’s product,” Harebottle told Modern Mining . “We are work- ing hard at this with the objective of increasing the demand for emeralds – which, incidentally, are significantly rarer than diamonds – and providing a consistent, professionally graded

The high wall of the Chama pit. The fourth pushback is currently in progress.

“Kagem has enjoyed an unblemished safety record since we took over with not a single reportable injury having occurred since we assumed

34  MODERN MINING  April 2015