Russian mining giant Alrosa is piloting the GIA’s (Gemological Institute of America) M2M program – a digital platform that matches rough diamonds to the resulting polished gems.
Sergey Ivanov, CEO of Alrosa, said: “The M2M program is a way to share with the consumer the story of our diamonds. The creation of tracing systems is an important step in confirming diamond provenance, which will have benefits for industry participants, retailers and ultimately retail consumers. Alrosa is examining different tracing solutions available on the market to provide consumers with supreme confidence and knowledge”.
“We are very pleased to welcome Alrosa to the M2M program,” said Tom Moses, GIA executive vice president and chief laboratory and research officer. “Dozens of retailers and several manufacturers are signed up, and we continue to engage other diamond producers as part of the initiative”.
M2M is a digital platform that matches rough diamonds to the resulting polished gems with information from each step in the value chain. According to the institute, it has already completed another pilot phase of the program, processing “thousands of rough diamonds ranging from one carat up to more than 100 carats”.
