Gemfields, a world-leading miner of coloured gemstones launched a report entitled Understanding the Global Supply of Emerald, Ruby and Sapphire, authored by Lauriane Pinsault. Building on Gemfields’ 2022 report entitled Global Emerald & Ruby Supply: Analysing Market Data, this latest analysis goes a step further in understanding the supply of coloured gemstones. Gemfields invites industry experts to review the information provided with a view to collaborating on further research, to improve transparency and understanding in the coloured gemstone industry. Authored by Lauriane Pinsault, CEO of GeoGems, as an independent industry review, this latest report includes input from approximately 100 industry experts and companies who were invited to contribute. As funders of the research, Gemfields wishes to thank all of those who participated. The aim has been to promote coloured gemstones globally and allow individuals, companies and organisations to have access to improved information about the industry.  The paper follows on from the report Global Emerald & Ruby Supply: Analysing Market Data, which was also written by Lauriane Pinsault for Gemfields, who published it in March 2022. The first report used several sources of data (notably UN Comtrade and the United States Geological Survey “USGS”) and compared these with miners’ direct information, where it was made available. This research indicated that online data related to coloured gemstone supply is unreliable and often missing, and that values are often underdeclared.  This new research had three objectives. Firstly, to update data from the previous report; secondly, to add market analysis of sapphire; and thirdly, to incorporate new sources of information, working in collaboration with other miners, associations, cooperatives and consultants, to provide more robust analysis and understanding of global supply of emerald, ruby and sapphire. While this report incorporates  a  greater  number  of  collaborators than the  initial  one  in  2022  did, and  therefore presents  a  more  informed  analysis  of  the  industry,  the  data  regarding  the  industry  is  still inconsistent, often incomparable and far from robust. “This second deep-dive into the global supply of emerald, ruby and sapphire makes solid strides forward, but continues to serve as a reminder of how far the coloured gemstone industry still has to go to reach the levels of transparency that end consumers deserve. Gemfields has pioneered approaches such as this research paper series and the G-Factor for Natural Resources, to facilitate a clearer understanding of the coloured gemstone sector, so that the industry can increasingly serve as a force for good,” explains Sean Gilbertson, CEO of Gemfields. “This new paper is the result of a long-term endeavour to connect with and contact numerous actors within the coloured gemstone industry. Their opinions, compiled using data from miners, governments and industry reports, makes this paper one of the most reliable works completed to date in relation to estimating the volumes of production of ruby, emerald and sapphire. That said, the highlighted inconsistencies, incoherencies, lack of information and resistance by some within the industry to collaborate – even anonymously – shows that there is still a long way to go before we reach a comparable level of access to information to that which exists in the diamond industry. Such access would surely benefit the entire sector,” says Lauriane Pinsault, CEO of GeoGems.   Providing an overview of coloured gemstone supply, its evolution across the past 40 years and its current status, Pinsault’s research is informed by miners, mining associations and consultants, data collection agencies, governmental mineral statistics and USGS and Extractive IndustryTransparency Initiative (‘EITI’) reports, in addition to bibliographic research, notably from industry-specialised publications such as Gems & Gemology, Journal of Gemmology and InColor. Unlike the 2022 report, this report also sought to include information about the Artisanal and Small-scale Mining (ASM) sector. Collaboration with associations, consultants and miners of all scales  has  enabled  this  research  to  provide  a  better  estimate  of  the  share  of  global  supply attributable to ASM, and therefore the paper attempts to give an estimate of the undeclared portion of production that arises from this channel.  In pursuit of greater transparency, Gemfields encourages all coloured gemstone producers to publish their G-Factor for Natural Resources annually. The G-Factor for Natural Resources is a simple calculation of the percentage of an extractive company’s revenue that is paid to the country-of-origin’s government in the form of mineral royalties, corporation tax and, where applicable, dividends. In April 2024, Zambia became the first country in Africa to publish G-Factor for Natural Resources data for selected mining companies via its EITI online portal, furthering transparency and accountability in Zambia’s mining sector.  Gemfields hopes to collaborate with interested parties to co-author further research papers in this series, in order to facilitate better understanding of global emerald, ruby and sapphire supply. Those interested in contributing to or co-authoring future papers should contact helena.choudhury@gemfields.com.