DDES Stresses Need for Low-Cost Detection of Lab-Grown Diamonds

(IDEX Online News) – The first Diamond Detection Expo and Symposium (DDES), a two-day even focusing on lab-grown diamonds, recently took place in Mumbai. The symposium was a join event of the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) and the Bharat Diamond Bourse (BDB).  

The event included a display of the latest equipment and machinery used to detect lab-grown diamonds and included representatives from the main diamond labs, including GIA India, HRD Antwerp, IGI, IIDGR (De Beers), GII, DRC Techno, GSI, Bruker and IDI-DDRC as the exhibitors.

At the opening ceremony, GJEPC chairman Praveenshankar Pandya stressed the importance of preserving consumer confidence in diamonds and safeguarding the industry against any undisclosed mixing of natural and lab-grown diamonds.

He also announced that following the success of the Natural Diamond Monitoring Committee (NDMC) in Mumbai, the organization will be forming a similar committee in Surat.

BDB president Anoop Mehta said the industry was working to ensure that every business would be able to install detection machines within their offices. “This is very much possible if demand for the technology increases bringing the unit cost of each machine within reach for even the smallest businesses,” he said.

According to Russell Mehta, GJEPC vice chairman, the main issue is how quickly diamonds can be detected. “At this point it's not about the size of diamond for detection, but the main issue is how quickly we can detect it and how affordable it is."

His thoughts were echoed by NDMC convener Ashish Mehta who said, “[It is] important that we protect the diamond industry from undisclosed mixing. Affordable and quick detection is an important pre requisite for this. The industry players must collaborate to find a solution to this problem.”

To help with detection, GII and IIDGR, a DeBeers Group Company, signed an MoU through which IIDGR will equip GII with two free AMS detection machines.