The rapid development of synthetic diamond technology, the discovery of synthetics being mixed in natural melee parcels, and the lack of efficient and affordable means to detect synthetic melees have sparked industry concern. To meet the urgent need and offer technological support to the industry, Gemological Institute of America (GIA) has developed a fully-automated sorting device for round, D to Z melees. The sorting service will be ready at its global laboratories in the second to third quarter of 2016.
GIA believes that the brand-new service will give the industry and consumers confidence in purchasing the most prevalent stones in the market.
Tom Moses, GIA’s executive vice president and chief laboratory and research officer told Hong Kong Jewellery that this service draws on GIA’s 60 years of research on synthetic diamonds and the fundamental research on tens of millions of natural diamonds examined in their laboratories. “GIA has screened larger diamonds for treatment and natural versus synthetic origin for decades, but the small size and vast quantities have made doing the same for melee impossible until now,” he said.
This sorting device is designed to confirm the identity of the sample, separate natural diamonds from potential synthetics and potentially-treated natural diamonds with 100 percent accuracy, colour grade the sample, sort by colour and size, process about 1,800 stones per hour, and accommodate stones from approximately 0.005 to 0.2 carat. When fully operational, the machine can run around the clock. Determining a particular diamond is synthetic or treated requires further testing with other equipment though.
Tom Moses revealed that although this machine’s pilot service begun in the first quarter of this year is in the early stage, the feedback is positive. “We will continue to enhance the performance of this device and other instrumentation that we develop,” he added.
According to GIA, service fees vary depending on the size of the sample, starting at about US$0.1 per stone. At this time, the instrument will not be available for public purchase.
“As with other synthetic materials, we would expect a parallel market to develop for synthetic diamonds, and we look for new services that will support the industry’s evolving needs,” Tom Moses said.
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