India’s Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) and the Bharat Diamond Bourse (BDB) are teaming to share how to use new technology to detect synthetics.
The Diamond Detection Expo and Symposium, December 15 and 16 in Mumbai, will display the latest equipment and give attendees access to service providers active in the synthetics detection business. Exhibitors will include GIA India, the International Gemological Institute and the International Institute of Diamond Grading & Research, part of De Beers.
Specialists in the industry, including Philip Martineau, head of physics at the De Beers Research Centre, and Jean-Pierre Chalain, head of the diamond department and deputy director of the Swiss Gemmological Institute (SSEF), will also speak and participate in panel discussions, a GJEPC statement said November 27.
The symposium comes a few months after the BDB banned trading in synthetic diamonds at the exchange.
“It’s vital that everyone working in the industry is aware of what diamond simulants, synthetics and treated diamonds are, even though they may not choose to trade in them,” GJEPC chairman Praveen Shankar Pandya said in the statement. “This symposium will work towards sensitizing the trade and equip them with technology and knowledge to battle the threat of mixing and protect consumer interest.”
