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De Beers Spending $5M to Expand Lab in India
The International Institute of Diamond Grading & Research facility in Surat will nearly double in size.
This shot provided by De Beers shows a diamond grader at work at the International Institute of Diamond Grading & Research facility in Surat, India. De Beers opened the lab in 2015 with an initial investment of $10 million and now will spend $5 million to expand it.
Surat, India--De Beers is spending $5 million to nearly double the size of its International Institute of Diamond Grading & Research facility in Surat, India.
Opened just last year, the IIDGR’s Surat facility currently has the capacity to process more than $500 million in diamonds every year, providing polished diamond grading, diamond verification, and melee testing and screening services, a current area of concern for the trade.
With the expansion, the 15,000-square-foot lab will take over another floor in its current building, adding 10,000 square feet of space.
In addition, De Beers said it will launch its first education service designed to cover the entire diamond pipeline and support further growth in the Indian diamond industry. Scheduled to launch in the second quarter of 2017, the program will include courses on polished diamond grading, diamond foundation and lab-grown diamonds.
India is one the world’s main trading centers for diamonds, and it is where 90 percent of the world’s diamonds are cut and polished. The diamond sector in India employs around 800,000 people in highly skilled jobs.
The country also accounts for 8 percent of global demand for diamond jewelry, according to De Beers’ latest Diamond Insight Report.
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