The Swiss-based Gubelin Gem Lab has introduced a first-time technology that tracks emerald stones from the mine to the consumer marketplace, Gem konnect reports.
The technology, dubbed the “Emerald Paternity Test”, works as following: it “impregnates emeralds at the mine with customised DNA-based nanoparticles that survive, enabling the usual procedures which an emerald undergoes before reaching the end consumer, such as cleaning, cutting, polishing, transportation and setting. The nanoparticles can be retrieved and decoded at any stage along the supply chain”. Additionally, “the size of these particles makes them invisible to optical microscopes, therefore not affecting the appearance, quality and properties of the stone in any way”.
According to Gubelin, the technology offers miners “a completely new level of transparency when sourcing emeralds, instilling confidence and creating trust”.
Colored gemstone producer Gemfields joined the project as a test partner. According to Gemfields CEO Ian Harebottle, “embracing innovation, technology and increased transparency is at the heart of our approach. We were therefore thrilled to assist Gubelin in the testing of this new technology and we are very excited about the outcome as it offers a multitude of benefits to the industry and the consumer”.
