Sean Gilbertson is the Gemfields' new CEO

Long-serving Gemfields executive board member Sean Gilbertson, who was recently appointed executive director of Pallinghurst, is the new CEO of Gemfields, says news reports. Gemfields has been delisted from the London Aim and is now an unlisted subsidiary of Pallinghurst.

Further the news reports mention that as longest-serving executive director of Gemfields, Gilbertson replaces former CEO Ian Harebottle, who has resigned to pursue other business interests. After almost a decade with Gemfields and Kagem, Gilbertson will be working with a new board, dominated by Gemfields veterans, says a news report.

David Lovett, who joined Gemfields’ finance team in 2008, is the company’s new CFO. In addition, mining luminary Brian Gilbertson joins the Gemfields board as chairperson and Pallinghurst CEO Arne Frandsen as deputy chairperson, with Frandsen also on the boards of Kagem Mining and Montepuez Ruby Mining.

Other team members include Adrian Banks, who joined Gemfields in 2009 and serves as the group’s product director responsible for grading, sorting and auctioning of emerald and ruby production; CV Suresh, who joined Gemfields in 2006 and ran the Kagem emerald mine from 2007 until 2015; Kartikeya Parikshya, a leading gemstone geologist, who has been with Gemfields since 2004; and Lovett, who has acted as a senior financial manager across a number of Gemfields’ operating subsidiaries during his nine-year tenure.

The outcome of the operational review will form the basis of an updated development plan for Gemfields, which has record debt, caused primarily by a fall in Kagem’s emerald production, which resulted in a $54-million year-on-year drop in Kagem’s auction revenues for the financial year ending June 30, says news reports.

Gemfields is expected to be 100 per cent Pallinghurst-owned by month-end, following the commencement of the compulsory minority-share acquisition process.

Source: Miningweekly.com