Diamond Services, a specialist in development of synthetic diamond detection devices, has announced that it will be expanding its synthetic screening service for rough diamonds at its facilities in Hong Kong and New York. The organisation said in a statement that it was taking this step in the face of evidence mounting about a surge in the volume of uncut synthetic diamonds entering the marketplace.

Explaining that the decision was in response to a need expressed by the industry, Joseph Kuzi, Diamond Services' CEO and President said, "In recent weeks there have been growing signs that the volume of synthetic rough diamonds flowing into the pipeline is rising significantly. Most goods appear to be of Chinese origin, and in sizes from one point up to three quarters of carat. What is particularly worrying is a definite rise in the incidence of synthetics stones in quite large parcels of rough diamonds, which its owners previously had assumed were all natural."

Diamonds submitted for synthetic screening at Diamond Services facilities are tested, using among others the Diamatest®, which was developed by the company. It is a system that can test rough and polished diamonds, both mounted and unmounted.

Kuzi added that currently there is strong demand for such a service among members of the rough diamond trade, who have a particular need to defend the integrity of their product. "We are adapting our operation accordingly, so as to provide all our clients with accurate data, and also a fast turn-around time," he said.

Diamond Services said that its best known products include DiamaTest®, an innovative system that screens both loose and mounted diamonds of any size and shape for synthetics, and the mini Raman Spectrometer, which can definitively identify synthetic diamonds and meets the needs of both gem labs and private diamond-trading companies.