PRECIOUS gemstone seller Gemfields yesterday announced a hefty hike in revenues at its latest ruby auction, with buyers embracing coloured gemstones as the market continues its post-Covid recovery. The London-listed miner and auctioneer generated £63.1m ($80.4m) in sales from this month's mixed-quality ruby auction, up from £52.4m at its previous auction earlier this year. Adrian Banks, Gemfields' managing director of product and sales, said: "The ruby market is clearly firing on all 12 cylinders and the stepchange in market pricing which we reported in 2022 is notably enhanced." Gemfields is one of the world's biggest vendors of rubies and emeralds, and it has managed to maintain robust prices even amid gloomy economic data to the limited global supply. The company's boss Sean Gilbertson told City A.M. last year he considered gemstones to be "resistant" to inflation and the worsening cost of living crisis.

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