Lucara Diamond Corp. and Sarine Technologies Ltd. simultaneously announced that Clara Diamond Solutions Corporation (Clara), Lucara’s 100% owned subsidiary, has entered into a Collaboration Agreement with Sarine.

Under the agreement, which “aims to change the way certain rough diamonds are sold”, Clara will be the exclusive, worldwide customer for customised interfaces and versions of Sarine's Galaxy® inclusion mapping technology and its Advisor® optimal rough planning for use with Clara's 100% owned, proprietary digital diamond sales platform. 

“Clara is on track to launch in 2018, with inaugural rough diamond sales set to commence in the third quarter,” Lucara announced.

Presently, Sarine estimates, 90% of rough diamonds are bought in boxes from direct suppliers. However, the boxes may or may not contain diamonds to fulfil the entire requirement of the buyers. Clara proposes that buyers buy individual stones rather than boxes. 

Clara plans to sell diamonds directly to jewellery manufacturers via a digital platform backed by secure blockchain technology it has itself developed.

 “Clara's platform will enable recording the mine origin of the rough diamond before it is sold. Sarine's Galaxy® inclusion mapping technology and its Advisor® optimal rough planning will then be applied to the rough stone to generate possible cutting and polishing solutions as per polished diamond manufacturers' retail customers' pre-defined orders,” Sarine said explaining the process. “Optimisation of the sorting process in this manner will match available rough material with manufacturers' and retailers' current market demand, allowing them to search for the exact stone(s) they need at the price they want. Initially Lucara will sell some of its own diamonds on Clara and may expand to allow other producers' rough stones to be sold via the platform.”

Further, Sarine stressed, the use of blockchain will ensure that information is kept confidential and secure. It will also improve transparency of the provenance chain, the Company believes. “That is especially key for millennial consumers to reassure them about where their diamonds came from,” Sarine underlined.

Lucara CEO Eira Thomas commented: "Clara is delighted to be partnering with Sarine in a ground-breaking Collaboration Agreement that will align Sarine and Clara in their efforts to create a new, leading sales channel for rough diamonds globally. Sarine is the industry leader in diamond Galaxy® scanning and Advisor® planning technology, which is in widespread use in the diamond industry today. Using these technologies in combination with our proprietary analytics, Clara will sell rough diamonds on a stone by stone basis, based on a customer’s specific requirements and needs, aligning rough diamond production to polished demand and unlocking significant value throughout the diamond pipeline."

David Block, CEO of Sarine Technologies Ltd. commented: "We are excited to have the opportunity to contribute to this initiative as we believe it will unlock value throughout the diamond supply chain which is a core principle of all of Sarine's endeavours. It will provide numerous benefits to the industry as well as to Sarine, as it broadens our addressable market into the upstream mining and producing segment of the diamond industry value chain. It is also the first opportunity to extend our pay-per-services paradigm to the actual planning of rough diamonds. We plan to further cooperate with Clara on its provenance blockchain initiative, as our Diamond JourneyTM is a natural fit."