The news is interesting because, in the past, the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) has maintained that the number of undisclosed lab-created diamonds identified at the laboratory largely remained static.
However, a GIA spokesperson confirmed to Jeweller this was no longer the case. He added that – as first reported by industry publication JCK – such incidents were becoming increasingly prevalent, particularly in regards to coloured and smaller-sized stones.
The spokesperson declined to provide further details regarding the lab-created diamonds that had been discovered but he did make a point of stating that undisclosed synthetics still represented a small proportion of the diamonds submitted to the laboratory for grading and identification.
“I cannot speculate regarding the sources or what may happen in the future. We support full disclosure of any treatments and whether a stone is synthetic – our client agreement requires this," he added.
In addition, the spokesperson said that the rise in undisclosed synthetic diamonds was “not surprising” given increased production levels. As previously reported by Jeweller, companies such as Pure Grown Diamonds, New Diamond Technology and IIa Technologies – which opened the “world’s largest” synthetic diamond facility in Singapore last month – are seemingly placing greater importance on lab-grown diamond offerings.
The news also follows other recent reports of undisclosed synthetic diamonds.
A colourless CVD (chemical vapour deposition) synthetic melee diamond was detected for the first time in March by Europe-based GGTL Laboratories. The stone was found during the Diamond Show Basel 2015 exhibition in a parcel of about 6,000 natural melee diamonds purchased in India.
An official GGTL statement did highlight, however, that there was no reason to view the incident as a “major problem” for the diamond industry until similar discoveries occurred more frequently and in higher percentages.
About one month prior to this, 110 lab-created diamonds were found in a parcel belonging to two traders operating in a diamond market in the Indian city Surat, a major global diamond cutting and polishing hub.
Update – Clarification 16 April 2015
Jeweller wishes to clarify that the comment regarding the colours and sizes of the synthetic stones identified by GIA laboratories was made by Tom Moses, executive vice president of GIA laboratory and research, in the original article published by JCK. The GIA spokesperson subsequently confirmed the original media report to Jeweller, but made no comment on sizes or colours.
More reading
World’s largest synthetic diamond facility unveiled
Synthetic diamonds top international agenda
More synthetic diamonds found in India
Synthetic diamonds detected in Australia