ALROSA Launches Synthetic Detector for Diamond Identification

ALROSA (MCX:ALRS) announced the creation of the first national commercial device for identification of natural and synthetic polished diamonds – ALROSA Diamond Inspector. The company expects that its relatively low price and high accuracy will allow the detector to be in demand both in Russia and abroad. It will help fight unscrupulous suppliers who mix synthetic stones grown in the laboratory with diamonds of natural origin.

As quoted in the press release:

ALROSA Diamond Inspector can identify natural polished diamonds, polished diamonds manufactured from synthetic and treated diamonds, non-diamond imitations (simulants), such as cubic zirconia, moissanite, and others. The device allows analyzing both individual diamonds and diamonds in jewelry.

The device was developed by ALROSA together with specialists from the Federal State Budgetary Institution Technological Institute for Superhard and Novel Carbon Materials (TISNCM). A joint venture, Diamond Scientific and Technological Center LLC, will be in charge of its production and sale.

ALROSA Diamond Inspector was first demonstrated on March 20 at a meeting of the Public Expert Board at the Assay Chamber of Russia dedicated to the topical issues of synthetic precious stones circulation in the Eurasian Economic Union.

Vladimir Sklyaruk, general director of Diamond Scientific and Technological Center LLC, commented:

One of the main competitive advantages of ALROSA Diamond Inspector is the use of three optical detection methods, which give high assessment reliability. 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 USD 9.9 thousand, while foreign detectors of a similar class can cost up to USD 18-20 thousand.

The detector is intended primarily for the use by diamond jewelry manufacturers, jewelry stores, pawnshops, gemologists (experts in precious and semiprecious stones) – according to our estimates the number of potential consumers of such devices worldwide can exceed 350 thousand. The demand for devices will grow depending on the rate of penetration of undeclared synthetic stones on the market,” says Vladimir Sklyaruk. “Unfortunately, the cases of admixing 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.

Click here to read the full ALROSA (MCX:ALRS) press release.