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GIA to grow diamonds for research purposes
In an effort to stay a step ahead of synthetic producers, the GIA plans to begin cultivating its own lab-grown diamonds at its research facility in New Jersey.
New Jersey--The Gemological Institute of America will begin growing diamonds at its research facility in New Jersey in order to keep up with identification and treatment of the stones, which are becoming more prevalent in the industry.
News of the GIA opening a “diamond synthesis center” surfaced earlier this week, when IDEX Online reported on a speech that GIA Senior Vice President of Laboratory and Research Tom Moses gave during International Diamond Week in Ramat Gan, Israel.
According to IDEX Online, Moses said in his speech that lab-grown diamonds are becoming a permanent fixture in the jewelry industry, and the key to ensuring these stones don’t undermine the natural product is identification and disclosure.
Moses was not available for further comment to National Jeweler Thursday but GIA spokesman Stephen Morisseau confirmed the lab’s plans.
He said the GIA expects to grow its first batch of diamonds in January at the engineering and research facility in New Jersey that it has had “for a few years.” It is a facility where teams work on instrument development and is an arm of the lab’s New York research department.
Morisseau said through its growth experiments, the GIA wants to develop a fundamental understanding of the properties of lab-grown diamonds and improve and expand its identification capabilities.
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