Gem launches flexible sale process to make up for cancelled tender

London-listed Gem Diamonds has had to cancel its Letšeng large tender, owing to travel and other restrictions imposed by various governments, including in Belgium, where the tender would have been held from March 16 to 25.

In its place, Gem has launched a “flexible direct sales process” for these large and high-quality diamonds that had seen significant demand during the tender viewings held to date.

The company said this sales process would include direct sales as well as partnership arrangements.

Any unsold diamonds under the flexible sales process would be held for sale at a later date.

Meanwhile, the company realised $7.8-million in revenue from a small diamond tender that closed in Antwerp, in Belgium, on Wednesday.

The proceeds were 18% below the like-for-like prices reached at the last small diamond tender, which was held in November, before the global coronavirus crisis.

“The results of the Letšeng small diamond tender were resilient considering the difficult circumstances under which the tender was held,” says CEO Clifford Elphick.

The company’s Letšeng mine, in Lesotho, remains in full production and the mine has a number of precautionary measures in place on site and throughout company operations, although there have been no reported instances of Covid-19 cases at any of the company’s operations.