(IDEX Online) - Gemfields say it set a record with sales totaling $43.7m from its Kagem mine, in Zambia.The UK-based colored gems miner says it sold all 35 lots offered, comprising 264,000 carats of higher quality rough, at a series of five auctions, with viewings in Bangkok and bids made online by sealed bids.The June auctions were the highest grossing since the Kagem mine opened in 2009 and narrowly beat the $43.3m sold in May 2022.Average realized price per carat was $165.55, an all-time record for any Gemfields emerald auction.The sale also represents a revenue increase of over 40 per cent on the company's last auction, in November 2022."In our last auction ... we saw the market normalise appreciably when compared with the exuberance of the first half of 2022," said Adrian Banks, Gemfields' managing director of product and sales."We are delighted today to see the market rebound sharply once again, underpinning the step-change in market pricing which we reported in 2022."Gemfields reported record $341m earnings for 2022, thanks to a post-Covid spike in demand for emeralds and rubies.Pic courtesy Gemfields