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Dennis
07-07-2011, 09:30 PM
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Traditionally raw diamonds are first polished to enable experts to examine the interior and decide how to cut them. The result is up to 50% of waste.

An Indian company Lexus, in cooperation with a Russian software company OctoNus, have now found a way to short cut this process by viewing raw diamonds while immersed in molten glass. This reduces the waste to nearer 25%.

Will this bring down the cost of diamonds? Don’t use them myself, but don’t hold your breath. Dennis.

art925
16-07-2011, 01:50 PM
I was in Antwerp earlier this year at the Diamond trade fair, and fortunate enough to be invited to visit one of the few surviving diamond polishing factories left in the city.
Following the first polish to increase visibility, they use a computer aided lazer to determine the position of flaws, inclusions etc in the piece, then to provide the cutter information if one, two or more diamonds can come from the initial stone. Finally the cutter makes the decision on how to take maximum usage from the stone. They specialise in hearts and arrows cut, so any flaws are visible. The process was very fascinating. One of the aspect that surprised me was that the training to become final polisher is about 10 years, and to complete the process of raw diamond to ready for sale takes about 40 man hours. I asked the CEO in his view who has the most important job in his factory, he told me the cutter, because for all the computer aided equipment they have, his decision provides the factory the best profit or loss from each stone, the company standard was 1/3 loss.

Dennis
17-07-2011, 06:09 AM
Thank you Les,
Your description was so lucid I felt I was watching with you. Dennis.

art925
18-07-2011, 07:33 PM
Graag dedaan, you're welcome. I think in the end the message is that the cost to the customer will not come down, it is another method for the organisations to max out the profit. The You Tube videos are cool though.