DeBeers REPORT 2014

SAFEGUARDING THE CONSUMER AGAINST

THE RISK OF UNDISCLOSED SYNTHETICS

When a consumer acquires a diamond, he or

she wants to know for certain that it is a rare and

inherently precious natural gem, brought to the

surface after lying for hundreds of millions of years

within the earth’s mantle. Any damage to consumers’

confidence in their natural diamond purchases could

have consequences for the whole industry.

Undisclosed synthetic diamonds present exactly

such a risk. The inability to distinguish confidently

(and therefore disclose) synthetics from natural gem

diamonds could lead to a collapse of consumer and

trade confidence in the value-perception of, and

desire for, natural gem diamonds. This may ultimately

lead to consumers abandoning the category,

temporarily or permanently.

Several organisations (De Beers included) have been

working hard over many years to minimise the risks

to consumer confidence resulting from deliberate

or inadvertent undisclosed synthetics.

De Beers has invested nearly US$65 million in research

over the last 30 years (in today’s value) to develop

sophisticated technology, including DiamondSure™,

DiamondView™ and DiamondPlus™ (see sidebar

for further detail), that can readily detect all types

of gem synthetics, providing consumers with the

confidence that they are not unknowingly purchasing

an undisclosed synthetic instead of a natural gem.

At the end of 2013, evidence came to light that

some synthetic products may have been seeded,

undisclosed, into parcels of natural diamonds in

the major diamond trading centres. Earlier in

2012, more than 600 Chemical Vapour Deposition

(CVD) synthetic colourless diamonds were found to

have been sold undisclosed to someone who then

submitted them to the International Gemological

Institute facilities in Belgium and India. Small

quantities of undisclosed high-quality CVD synthetic

diamonds were also detected in China and in India

Although technology was already available to detect

synthetic gems, the first generation of detection

technology had focused on screening larger gems.

At the time, there was no cost-effective method of

screening melée diamonds in the supply chain. It

was not therefore possible to assess accurately the

extent to which undisclosed synthetic melée posed

a consumer confidence risk to the industry.

Research and development efforts were accelerated

to address this issue, and effective melée-screening

technology is now available.

The Swiss Gemmological Institute (SSEF) has

developed a non-portable Automated Spectral

Diamond Inspection (ASDI) machine designed

to screen colourless melée diamonds at a rate of

3,000-4,000 per hour

De Beers, drawing on a co-ordinated effort between its

Global Sightholder Sales and Technologies divisions,

and the International Institute of Diamond Grading

and Research (IIDGR), built a compact, portable

automated machine, the Automatic Melée Screening

(AMS) device, to scan both colourless and near-

colourless melée quickly and cost-effectively. The AMS

machine was piloted in Antwerp in mid-2013 and is

now being sold to De Beers’ Sightholders, helping

to maintain confidence across the industry. The first

100 AMS machines were produced and available for

shipment to the Sightholder community less than

12 months after the issue first surfaced. By the end

of July 2014, orders for 60 AMS machines had been

received, with installation and training having been

completed for 25 of these units.

A synthetic is a product that has been partly or

completely crystallised by artificial or human

intervention through a variety of processes, such

as High Pressure High Temperature (HPHT) or

Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD).

In some cases, synthetic diamond stones are treated

to improve their colour, using heat treatment,

irradiation or a combination of these treatments.

The first commercially successful synthesis of

diamond was announced by the General Electric

Company in 1955. These synthetics were produced

using HPHT processes. An alternative method

of diamond synthesis carried out by Union

Carbide, based on Chemical Vapour Deposition

techniques, is claimed to have pre-dated that of

HPHT by two years.

The primary use of synthetics since then has been

in industry, where they are used for wide range of

applications, including mechanical, optical and

electronic. Significant advances in the production

of synthetics have occurred since then, with the

first incidence of HPHT synthetics in the jewellery

industry being noticed in the late 1980s and that

of CVD synthetics in the late 1990s

WHAT IS A SYNTHETIC?