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De Beers has estimated total synthetics production
capacity by combining publicly available information
about the number and type of machines used by
the main synthetics producers with the practical
experience of Element Six Technologies (a leader
in synthetic diamond production for technical
applications, wholly owned by De Beers) in using
such technology.
If all known CVD reactors capable of producing gems
were used solely for synthetic gem production, the
company estimates that annual production would be
around 150,000 polished carats. HPHT production of
colourless and near-colourless synthetics is estimated
at below 10,000 carats.
In reality, however, most of the available capacity
is used for industrial purposes, not for gem-quality
production. Based on disclosed volumes, known cases
of undisclosed synthetics and initial feedback from
users of the AMS machines, the company estimates
that production of gem-grade synthetics is in the
range of 15,000-60,000 carats per year. The majority of
these carats are produced by two or three companies
based in South East Asia and North America.
Overall, the volume of gem-quality synthetics
produced by either CVD or HPHT processes
is estimated to still be low.
Despite these low volumes, the diamond industry
must remain vigilant about the persistent risk of
undisclosed synthetics. To date, through technological
innovation, the industry has been successful in
safeguarding consumer confidence. Continual
investment in developing and deploying technology
will be required to sustain that success in future.
De Beers continues to make its detection technology
available to Sightholders and the industry at large.
Additionally, the company is working to raise
awareness of how undisclosed synthetics might
deliberately or unwittingly be introduced into the
pipeline and of how this risk can be managed.
De Beers has developed four different types of
detection machines and introduced them to the
wider diamond industry:
DiamondSure™
is a portable
screening instrument
designed to screen rapidly for
synthetics and simulants (with
a measurement time of a few
seconds per stone).
DiamondView™
is designed to
identify the two per cent of stones
that are referred for further
testing by DiamondSure™.
From the characteristic surface
fluorescence patterns which
are imaged and produced by short-wave ultra-violet
illumination, a user is able to identify whether a
stone is natural or synthetic.
DiamondPlus™
simplifies
and significantly speeds up
the task of detecting HPHT
treatments applied to type II
natural diamonds. It tests loose
diamonds of between 0.05 and
10 carats within 15 seconds. DiamondPlus also helps
to identify CVD synthetics, by detecting a feature
which is very commonly found in CVD synthetics
currently available.
The Automated Melée
Screening Device (AMS)
machine is a compact,
automated version of
DiamondSure™ with
additional detection functionality, which enables
360 small stones per hour to be tested completely
‘hands-off.’ It makes it possible to screen melée-
sized diamonds (1 to 20 pts) in a cost-effective
manner. During pilot testing, an average pass rate
of 98.5 per cent was achieved on nearly 80,000
colourless and near-colourless melée diamonds.
The remaining 1.5 per cent diamonds were sent
for further testing with DiamondView™ and
confirmed as natural. No synthetic melée was
found during this test.
DE BEERS’ PROPRIETARY
DETECTION TECHNOLOGY