Kagem Hosts Visit by UK Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy

ZAMBIA – 21 OCTOBER 2021 – On Friday 15 October 2021, the Kagem emerald mine in Lufwanyama hosted a delegation led by the UK Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Angola and Zambia, Mr Laurence Robertson MP. Mr Robertson was accompanied by the British High Commissioner to Zambia, Mr Nicholas Woolley, in addition to dignitaries from both the British High Commission to Zambia and the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

The Kagem mine in Lufwanyama – which is owned by Gemfields in partnership with the Zambian Government through the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) – is the world’s largest emerald producer.

Gemfields acquired 75% of Kagem in July 2008, at which point Kagem’s revenues were just USD 8 million per annum. A policy of transparency was adopted and, following significant investment and repatriation of full gemstone auction revenues to Zambia, Kagem’s annual turnover grew to around USD 80 million, a ten-fold increase. Since 2008, Kagem has achieved cumulative revenues of USD 701 million, all of which has been fully repatriated to Kagem in Zambia. This means Zambia saw the full international value of its emeralds delivered directly into Zambia. During that time, Kagem has paid approximately USD 123 million to the Government of the Republic of Zambia in the form of corporation tax, mineral royalty and dividends, equivalent to 18% of the total revenue. Speaking during the visit, Gemfields and Kagem Chief Executive, Sean Gilbertson, said, “With the exception of Kagem’s sister mine in Mozambique – the Montepuez ruby mine – Gemfields is not aware of any other instance in human history where a host-government has benefitted from its coloured gemstone resources on this scale, either in monetary or percentage terms.”

Mr Robertson said he was impressed with the expenditure the mine has undertaken to improve the livelihoods of people in surrounding communities: “Emeralds are one of the products for which Zambia is world-famous. I think it’s very important to keep trading on that. And not just for the sake of producing the product, but more importantly, for the sake of Zambians whose livelihoods are enhanced as a result of skills learned, incomes earned and wider economic gains arising from taxes paid by mining companies such as Gemfields. When we were driving here, we noticed that many of the schools were created or sponsored by mining companies. It is very important that every business looks after its environment and its community and this company is doing it.“

Commenting on the visit to Kagem, Mr Woolley said: “It’s a hugely impressive operation from an investment point of view. It has managed to increase its employment by 200 percent despite Covid-19 with its direct employees all receiving pensionable earnings. It has increased its revenues over the years from USD 8 million to USD 80 million. This benefits Zambians, it benefits the local communities and it benefits employment and livelihoods here.“

Mr Gilbertson added “A decade ago, Zambia was the world’s third largest emerald producer, behind Colombia and Brazil. Today, Zambia is the number one producer and must remain a competitive, secure and reliable source in order to further enhance its leadership position. The entire planet is moving toward a new era of transparency. This should be embraced and initiatives like EITI and The G-Factor for Natural Resources should be widely adopted. We welcome GRZ involvement and monitoring in gemstone mining and sales: the more data that can be made public about gemstone production, revenues and taxes, the better. We had the privilege of visiting a number of ministers in the new Government last week. We were extremely impressed with the seriousness of the approach toward business as a key to fostering economic growth, employment and debt reduction. Everybody has been clear that sensible and consistent policy, including in relation to foreign investment and taxation, is core to the future success of Zambia.”