Technology Experts & Trade Bigwigs on Man-made Diamonds

A highly interesting and enlightening seminar on man-made diamonds was organized by the Gems & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) in Mumbai recently. Explaining the need for such deliberations on the newest topic, Chairman Sanjay Kothari candidly commented that since man-made diamond has now become a reality it was necessary for the diamond industry and trade to know whether the new sparklers posed a challenge or threat to them or offered them new opportunities. Martin Rapaport of the Rapaport Group conducted the seminar, where Bryant R. Linares, President, Apollo Diamond Gemstone Inc.,USA and S.Clark McEwen, Chief Operating Officer - Gemesis Corporation, USA were the main speakers.

Revolutionary Process Demonstrated:

Linares explained that his company produced man-made diamonds with the help of a totally new CVD technology developed by it. He explained with the help of pictures how the company’s patented process employing plasma-enhanced CVD can produce exceptionally pure, single crystal diamonds. Such rough diamonds, he added, could be of 1 to 3 carat in initial stages and could be colorless, nearly colorless or fancies. He maintained that these man-made diamonds would help broaden the jewellery market.

First Cousins of Natural Diamonds:

S. Clark McEwen explained that his company produced man-made diamonds with the help of the HPHT process and added that these diamonds had the same hardness, specific gravity, refractive index and dispersion as in natural diamonds. Currently the company offered such rough diamonds in the carat range of 0.70 to 3 carats. They were available in yellow, orange and other fancy colors. At a subsequent stage, colorless diamonds would also be produced by the company. %% Both the speakers emphasized that these man-made diamonds had the same physical, chemical and optical properties as possessed by natural diamonds.

Uniform Nomenclature Desired:

These informative discourses were followed by a panel discussion on the subject. The penalists included Russell Mehta (Rosy Blue), Jatin Mehta (Su-Raj Diamonds), Ashok Minawala (Danabhai Jewellers), Rajendra Shah (Managing Trustee, Gemmological Institute of India) and others. They replied to various queries from the audience. %% An important point that cropped up during this discussion was that while one producer of man-made diamonds described them as ‘synthetic diamonds’, the other named them ‘cultured diamonds’. It would be better if both of them adopted some uniform nomenclature to obviate confusion among consumers. It was further suggested that since production of these man-made diamonds was based on high technology, they could better be named High Tech Diamonds or Super Tech Diamonds to avoid divergent nomenclature.