IGI Finds Hundreds of Undisclosed Synthetic Diamonds at Labs

IGI Finds Hundreds of Undisclosed Synthetic Diamonds at Labs
Warns That More May Have Entered the Market

Several hundred man-made diamonds were sent to the International Gemological Institute ‎‎(IGI) in Antwerp and Mumbai to be certified as natural diamonds, raising concerns that a large ‎volume of these undisclosed CVD synthetic stones may have entered the market already.‎

Roland Lorié, the chief executive of IGI, told Rapaport News that the company received an initial ‎batch of 145 stones at its Antwerp lab and that following tests proving the stones to be ‎CVD synthetics, the full parcel of more than 600 stones were presented to the lab. ‎

‎“A diamond dealer cannot tell the difference between natural and CVD synthetic diamonds ‎and it requires sophisticated machinery at the labs to make the necessary findings,” Lorié said. ‎‎“This means that there could be a large amount of undisclosed synthetic diamonds on the ‎market.”‎

An unnamed polished dealer, who had bought the synthetic stones on the open market --at natural ‎diamond prices-- submitted the goods to IGI for certification about two weeks ago after he was ‎unable to sell them as a parcel on the dealer market. ‎

Lorié said that the polished dealer and his supplier both claimed to be under the impression ‎that the goods were natural diamonds. ‎

Around the same time, a smaller parcel of 10 stones was submitted to IGI’s Mumbai lab by two ‎separate parties. IGI found that all these sets of goods were CVD synthetic diamonds and likely ‎came from the same source. ‎

IGI issued a trade alert to other laboratories regarding its findings. ‎

‎“Additionally, IGI decided to share detailed scientific information with other gemological ‎laboratories around the world, as we now suspect that the volumes of colorless synthetic ‎diamonds being released on the global market s have increased noticeably, and may perhaps ‎already be prevalent throughout the diamond centers,” IGI stated. ‎

The company worked with the Belgian Federation of Diamond Bourses (BFDB), the Diamond ‎Trading Company (DTC) Research Centre and the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) to ‎alert the trade about the issue. ‎

DTC reported to sightholders that it has identified three recent instances of undisclosed ‎submission of CVD synthetics to grading laboratories in Belgium, India and China, whereby ‎each case had very similar characteristics and may have had a common source. ‎

''The DiamondView and photoluminescence results indicate that the CVD synthetics have been ‎heat-‎treated post synthesis and we note that the combination of characteristics is ‎strikingly ‎similar to that reported by the GIA [Wang & Moses 2011] for 16 CVD synthetics ‎received from ‎Gemesis Corporation,” DTC told sightholders.

Avi Paz, the WFDB president, explained that the diamond bourses require their members to ‎identify synthetics and disclose any treatments used on diamonds. He stressed that the ‎bourses are guided by clear rules regarding the trading in misrepresented or undisclosed ‎products, whether inadvertently or not. Any violations of these rules are referred to the ‎relevant bourse for disciplinary action and can be grounds for suspension, expulsion, fine or ‎other appropriate measure. ‎

‎“Together with the diamond laboratories, which have the means and technological ‎instruments to detect man-made and treated diamonds, our affiliated bourses provide ‎assistance in identification techniques and a secure structure,” Paz said. “It is in the interest of ‎our global business that it remains transparent so that consumers can receive full disclosure ‎about the diamonds they purchase.”‎

DTC added that trading in these goods could cause irreparable damage to reputation and could ‎undermine the integrity of the diamond supply chain, damaging both trade and c onsumer ‎confidence in buying diamonds. ‎