Understanding Diamond Provenance

07 May 2020

Understanding the true provenance of a diamond is critical in ensuring effective traceability within diamond supply chains. While provenance is the specific point of origin of a product, traceability refers to the ability to identify and trace a product through steps in the supply chain via recorded documentation. It is important to distinguish between the two as traceability refers to a process at which, provenance is the starting point.

Digital traceability systems are on their way to transforming global diamond supply chains by establishing secure digi-tal reference points displaying a diamond's journey of custodianship from mine to gem cutter to wholesaler, retailer and customer. Within this digital system a diamond is assigned a tracking number and identified as originating from a 'mine'. However, a mine is a vast and general space in which a diamond is potentially handled a number of times be-fore being submitted for digital record.

This presents a window of opportunity for diamonds from unauthorised sources to infiltrate the supply chain unno-ticed, for example, from from undisclosed affiliate sites that have not undergone certification processes. For this reason, we determine a diamond's source of origin, its provenance, at the pipe in the Earth's crust that it was extracted from.

The beauty in establishing this as the true source of origin is that nature has already assigned a unique tracking num-ber, an individual chemical composition, to each and every diamond depending on the location it is found. As a natu-rally occurring mineral, diamond's absorb unique mixtures of chemical elements present in their surroundings, and these chemical compositions vary drastically between diamonds extracted from neighbouring mines, and even from within the same mine.

As this chemical fingerprint can only be analysed scientifically, it adds an invaluable forensic layer of protection to digital traceability systems underpinning their ability to verify authenticity claims of diamonds.
Together with digital traceability systems, scientific provenance verification plays an integral part in building greater transparency in diamond supply chains and helps close loopholes found in current or outdated certifications schemes.

Years after protocols have been put in place, we are still seeing blood diamonds being smuggled across borders and given fake certifications to allow them to be traded internationally. Without forensically analysing these diamonds, buyers cannot determine where they originated from and rely heavily on trust to proceed with transactions.

Unless a diamond can be scientifically linked to its origin, it is impossible to deny it has not changed hands outside of its assigned supply chain, and the only way to link a diamond back to its origin is to first identify its provenance.

Source Certain works with industry partners using their provenance verification technology to contribute to a wider solution in creating transparency for one of the most valuable and treasured consumer products in the world.

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Source: Source Certain International