ALROSA Launches Commercial Device For Identification Of Natural And Synthetic Polished Diamonds

ALROSA Launches Commercial Device For Identification Of Natural And Synthetic Polished Diamonds

Determined not to be outdone by its major rival De Beers and global labs such as the GIA, Russian mining giant ALROSA is launching its first commercial device for the identification of natural and synthetic polished diamonds.

Called the ALROSA Diamond Inspector, it can identify natural polished diamonds, polished diamonds manufactured from synthetic and treated diamonds, non-diamond imitations (simulants), such as cubic zirconia, moissanite.


The Diamond Inspector analyzes both individual, loose diamonds and diamonds set in jewelry.


"The company expects that its relatively low price and high accuracy will allow the detector to be in demand both in Russia and abroad," ALROSA said. "It will help fight unscrupulous suppliers who mix synthetic stones grown in the laboratory with diamonds of natural origin."


One of the main competitive advantages of the ALROSA Diamond Inspector is the use of three optical detection methods, which give high assessment reliability," said the General Director of Diamond Scientific and Technological Center LLC, Vladimir Sklyaruk. This know-how is protected by an international patent and provides a lower price of devices compared to peers. The price of our detector is $9,900, while foreign detectors of a similar class can cost up to $18,000-$20,000".


The detector is intended principally for use by diamond jewelry manufacturers, jewelry stores, pawnshops and gemologists.


ALROSA estimates the number of potential consumers worldwide at more than 350,000.


"The demand for devices will grow depending on the rate of penetration of undeclared synthetic stones on the market. Unfortunately, the cases of mixing synthetic rough diamonds and polished diamonds manufactured from them have been recorded in the world's largest diamond centers. Our device allows you to determine quickly and with a very high degree of accuracy the true origin of a polished diamond - whether it was made from a rough diamond grown in a couple of weeks in a laboratory or manufactured from a real natural rough diamond hundreds of millions and even billions of years old," the miner said in a statement.


The Diamond Inspector was first demonstrated on March 20.