The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) has started accepting stones for its automated melee testing service, which identifies potential synthetics in batches of small diamonds.
Following a five-month pilot, the GIA Melee Analysis Service is now open at most GIA laboratories for customers to submit round, 0.005 to 0.25-carat, D-Z color diamonds, the institute said.
The rapid service processes 1,800 to 2,000 stones per hour, separating natural, untreated diamonds from simulants and potentially synthetic or treated diamonds. It then sorts the screened diamonds by color and returns them to the customer in a sealed package.
GIA will charge $0.08 per stone for smaller diamonds, starting at the 0.90-1.49 millimeter range, and increase its prices gradually all the way up to $0.40 per stone for the 3.50-4.00 millimeter highest tier.
