L-R Ashish Mehta-Convener NDMC GJEPC, Praveenshankar Pandya-Chairman GJEPC, Anoop Mehta- President BDB, Russell Mehta-Vice chairman GJEPC

The Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), in association with Bharat Diamond Bourse (BDB) successfully concluded The Diamond Detection Expo and Symposium (DDES) recenly. DDES, an initiative by GJEPC was organized with an objective to impart knowledge on synthetic diamonds, its detection using various technologies available. The 2 day event included display of latest equipment/machinery and service providers’ active in Diamond Detection business, along with proficient talks and panel discussions with renowned experts from the trade.

Introducing DDES and welcoming all the participants and visitors at the Inaugural ceremony Praveenshankar Pandya, Chairman, GJEPC said,"The main motive for this industry is to ensure that we preserve consumer confidence in diamonds and we safeguard ourselves against any undisclosed mixing of Synthetics.

Mr. Pandya announced that based on success of NDMC in Mumbai, we would soon be forming a Natural Diamond Monitoring Committee (NDMC) in Surat

Mr. Anoop Mehta, President BDB added “The industry is working to ensure that every business would be able to install detection machines within their offices. This is very much possible if demand for the technology increases bringing the unit cost of each machine within reach for even the smallest businesses. It is very essential to draw a parallel with digital technology that had completely replaced the old diamond weighing scales in a matter of a little more than a decade."

Mr. Russell Mehta, Vice Chairman, GJEPC said "At this point it's not about the size of Diamond for detection but the main issue is how quickly we can detect it and how affordable it is."

Mr. Ashish Mehta, Convener NDMC, said “As per the comprehensive report commissioned by GJEPC, synthetic diamond accounts for only 0.3% of the Natural Diamond industry. But it is important that we protect diamond industry from undisclosed mixing. Affordable and quick detection is an important pre requisite for this. The industry players must collaborate to find solution to this problem.”

The Day1 of the Expo included seminars addressed by Industry experts as Speakers & Panelists, the prominent and renowned one’s like Dr. Philip Martineau from IIDGR (De Beers) who spoke about the current situation in diamond detection industry, Dr. Jean Pierre Chalain from SSEF who addressed about the Melle size, large throughput and even spoke about ASDI automated spectral diamond inspection, Dr.ThomasHainschwang from GGTL who spoke about coloured diamond detection and identification of the lab grown diamond, Mr. Wuyi Wang from GIA spoke about the advances in CVD technology and the challenges associated for detection, Mrs. Seema Ashish Athavale from GSI shared the information on man-made diamond and the natural diamond, Mr. Kaushal Sharma from Bruker Optik spoke about Infra-Red spectroscopy.

Industry’s one of the leading laboratories, GII is the Knowledge Partner of the Event.

The Day 2 of the Expo opened with a panel discussion on “Synthetic Diamonds: Implications for the Industry”. The Panel Discussion had the participation of Anoop Mehta, President BDB; Russell Mehta, Vice Chairman, GJEPC; Ashish Mehta, Convener, NDMC; C K Venkataraman - CEO Jewellery, Titan Company Limited; and Thomas Moses, Executive Vice President and Chief Laboratory and Research Officer, GIA. It was moderated by NeeleshHundekari, Partner, Asia Pacific, A.T. Kearney.

From the panel discussion it was clear the most effective way of tackling the illicit mixing of synthetics with natural diamonds was

1) To quickly develop low cost machines which all traders could use

2) Develop a system and maintain necessary documentation; and

3) Spread awareness about the issue and the urgency surrounding it as widely as possible

The panel discussion was followed by a seminar conducted by Ellen Barrie from HRD Antwerp on screening and detection of lab grown diamond, followed by another seminar by Thomas Moses from NY EVP, chief Lab & Research officer and Wuyi Wang from GIA on Advancement in Diamond Treatment.

DDES witnessed more than 7000 visitors and 1100 plus attendees during Seminars over the span of two days from Mumbai, Delhi, Surat in addition to Jaipur, Lucknow and other cities across India.

In an attempt to benefit the Industry, A MoU between GII and IIDGR, a DeBeers Group Company was signed during DDES wherein IIDGR shall be equipping GII with two AMS machines on gratis basis for quick and accurate detection of synthetic diamonds.