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THE BENEFITS OF TAKING BOLD DECISIONS:
Today, I will share with you one of our many fulfilled campaign promises, which is the promotion of value addition to our country’s Gemstones and other minerals. During my campaign for office, I insisted that as President of Zambia I will ensure that we start auctioning our Gemstones and other minerals locally. As usual many pessimists objected and labelled me a dreamer. But below is the current status of this BOLD decision:
On the insistence of our Government, Kagem Mines Plc conducted 3 auctions in 2013. The 1st auction was held in April 2013 and 6.3 million carats of low grade emeralds were sold at a value of US$15.2 million. The 2nd auction was held from 15-19 July 2013 and 583,448 carats of high grade emeralds valued at US$31.5 million were sold. This was the second highest auction revenue achieved to date and the best in terms of value per carat sold. You may wish to know that all the 583,448 carats placed on offer were sold and the average per carat price of US$54 set a new record. The 3rd auction was held from 11-15 November 2013 and a total of US$16.4 million was realized from the low grade auction.
Dear Friends, following the successful outcome of the 3 auctions held, there is no doubt about our country’s ability to hold these auctions locally and maximize revenue which might have been understated through various manipulations. It is my sincere belief, that the selling and auctioning of Gemstones locally will create employment, enhance value addition through cutting, polishing and jewelry making activities as well as enhance revenue collection as a result of proper monitoring mechanisms.
Going forward, our Government will re-capitalize the ZCCM-IH with K275 million in order to add value to our country’s various Gemstones by cutting and polishing among others in line with the PF Manifesto. We are determined to extract huge benefits for our people from our God given resources. MCS – 06/02/14
