Diamond market crash is Africa’s opportunity, not its crisis – M'zée Fula Ngenge

Global natural diamond supply is forecast to fall below 95 million carats this year, the lowest since 1987. For Dr. M'zée Fula Ngenge, chairperson of the African Diamond Council (ADC), this is not a death knell but a clarion call. In an exclusive...

12 october 2026

Tracr passes 5 million rough diamonds milestone as De Beers expands provenance push

De Beers Group's blockchain-enabled traceability platform Tracr reached a significant milestone in 2025, with more than 5 million rough diamonds individually scanned and registered, up from 2.8 million cumulative registrations reported in 2024. The...

28 september 2026

South African diamonds head to Hong Kong: SDT partners with BRINKS for JGW 2026

South Africa’s State Diamond Trader (SDT) has confirmed the country's participation in Jewellery & Gem World Hong Kong (JGW) 2026 through a partnership with BRINKS. SDT marketing and communication manager Tsholofelo Gopolang Tselapedi...

14 september 2026

David Benderly: PermaScribe seeks to put trust mark on diamond table, not just girdle

In this interview with Rough & Polished’s Mathew Nyaungwa, PhotoScribe Technologies president and chief executive David Benderly explains how PermaScribe differs technically from conventional laser inscription, its potential to strengthen security, and...

31 august 2026

The great reset: Paul Zimnisky on supply catharsis, De Beers' bargain and the case for natural diamonds

The natural diamond industry is in the throes of its most profound reset in a generation. Supply is plunging to its lowest level since 1987 and De Beers—once valued at over $9 billion—is reportedly being sold for as little as $1 billion.
Lab-grown...

10 august 2026

De Beers unveils SynthDetect 2 diamond screening instrument

15 september 2026

De Beers’ Science and Technology division has revealed SynthDetect 2, the next generation desktop diamond screening instrument.

The first SynthDetect instrument and its successor SynthDetect XL, released in 2017 and 2018 respectively, have been among the most successful instruments in De Beers’ suite of diamond verification instruments due to their technical screening functionality and ability to test multiple stones in set jewellery at once without the need for a probe.

De Beers’ Science and Technology worked closely with a range of trade participants to integrate the technology with customer operations.

The company said this process resulted in an instrument that makes the diamond screening process significantly easier, faster and more cost-effective for diamond manufacturers, laboratories, and retailers' back-office operations.

“We have worked closely with industry partners to ensure that SynthDetect 2 is not only tailored to meet diamond companies’ screening requirements, but also to meet their operational needs,” said De Beers senior vice president for science and technology Sarandos Gouvelis.

“Through this process of collaboration we are proud to introduce SynthDetect 2, providing the trade with an instrument that will integrate seamlessly into their operations, marrying outstanding technical performance with enhanced speed, cost and efficiency.”

SynthDetect 2’s increased screening speed, throughput and productivity mean that the time taken for a full tray scan has been reduced from around 30 minutes to under five minutes, it said.

The instrument can screen more types of diamonds and jewellery than previous versions, while increased automation reduces the need for operator input, helping to reduce costs in the screening process.

The instrument also offers automatically generated reporting and software updates.

SynthDetect 2 is being demonstrated at the Hong Kong Gem and Jewellery Show.

Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor-In-Chief, Rough & Polished