JSE-listed Gemfields started the week plunging to a record low as the departure of its long-time CEO deepens fears about the firm’s ability to recover shareholder value.Shares in the coloured-stone miner fell as much as 31% in intraday trade on Monday before recovering to close 17.5% weaker at 66c in their biggest one-day drop since April last year.The shares reached a record high above R12 when the company was still known as Pallinghurst Resources. Since the name change in 2018, the highest it ever traded at was R4.34 in 2023.The latest plunge came a week after the company announced long-time CEO Sean Gilbertson was stepping down from the helm, causing its share price to slump nearly 12% on the day. (Dorothy Kgosi) However, this sell-off was also the culmination of a multiyear decline in confidence among Gemfields investors. Over the past three years, the dual pressure of armed conflict in Mozambique and a restrictive tax regime in Zambia has wiped out 80% of the ruby and emerald miners’ market value.The company’s options for capital raising are limited. It had already tapped the market in a $30m rights issue last April, at a price of about R1.07 a share, about 40% above where it is now.In an effort to secure even more cash for working capital, the group signed off on the sale of its Fabergé brand for $50m four months later.All of these proceeds were used as working capital to expand its remaining operations: the Kagem emerald mine in Zambia and the Montepuez Ruby Mine (MRM) in Mozambique.These efforts have not been able to halt the decline in its share price.It seems Gemfields’ shareholders are increasingly unable to stomach the risky regulatory and operating environment in both the countries in which it operates.In Zambia, tight competition in local emerald markets and a 15% levy on gemstone exports continues to tax the group’s operations.While the temporary levy was lifted earlier this year, it saw the company suspend mining operations for the first five months of 2025, dealing a blow to sales that has been difficult to recover from.In Mozambique, the threat of violent protests stemming from the country’s 2024 elections seems only to have steadily worsened over the past two years.The group said just last week that a number of attacks on villages as close as 15km from its MRM operations had forced it to pause operations for nearly a day out of fear for the safety of its employees.Amid the mayhem, about 700 illegal miners are breaking and entering into MRM daily, it said.With the company’s interim results due in the next three months, investors are eagerly awaiting signs of stability in the group’s balance sheet, with Gilbertson promising investors the firm would focus on paying off debt this year in his most recent annual letter to shareholders.Some encouragement came in the group’s 2025 annual results, published in March, in which it reported a headline loss of 21.6c per share, far narrower than the previous year’s 39.1c. Business Day