Technology in the Diamond Industry: Rough Sorting

(ehudlaniado.com) - Unlike in some sectors of the diamond industry, rough sorting and price evaluation are still largely done by skilled people examining the diamonds. Walk into any rough diamond sorting room, and you will find a few standard tools that are used almost universally to assist in classifying rough stones. In the past few years, however, new technology has been developed that is helping automate rough sorting, especially for smaller diamonds that are laborious to sort manually. Other minerals that can infiltrate a parcel of diamonds can sometimes fool even the most skilled rough sorter. This is especially true of smaller diamonds, which tend to be present in huge quantities. Diamond testers are a tool to help sorters establish if a questionable stone is indeed a diamond, or a similar-looking stone such as silicate. Diamond testers work by sending heat into the stone, and by measuring how quickly the stone conducts the heat. Each type of mineral has its own unique conductivity signature, and this helps determine if the stone is indeed a diamond. The one drawback to diamond testers is that for the moment, many of them cannot distinguish between diamonds and moissanite, a common substitute for diamonds that requires a separate tool to evaluate.