The Sarine group has announced that it crossed a significant milestone in 2017, with its Galaxy® family of scanning and inclusion mapping systems having scanned 10 million stones worldwide in one single year.

The Company said that Galaxy® family of systems have now cumulatively scanned over 30 million stones since they were first introduced in the industry in 2009. It took six years for the Company to complete the first 10 million scanned stones.

When that milestone was reached in July 2015, average quarterly throughput was only one million stones. The rate of growth has risen rapidly after that, Sarine reported, adding the 2017 landmark was achieved despite prevailing industry conditions and other impediments, adding that it will continue to aggressively counter illicit infringement of its intellectual property.

The Galaxy® family of systems (today encompassing the Galaxy® , Galaxy® XL, Galaxy® Ultra, Solaris® and Meteor® products) has provided automated, accurate, comprehensive and fast inclusion mapping data for rough diamonds in all major diamond processing centres wordwide, so as to allow computer-assisted diamond planning based also on Clarity, in addition to Cut and Carat weight, as was previously the norm. It has helped manufacturers to maximise polished diamond yield, while expediting the manufacturing cycle and reducing human error, Sarine said.

David Block, Chief Executive Officer of Sarine, stated, "Having without doubt proven its value, the Galaxy® solution has uniquely propelled the industry to a higher level of quality. By scanning 10 million rough stones in 2017, our loyal customer base has clearly expressed, once again, confidence in our cutting-edge technology. We will continue our commitment to developing and delivering the highest quality inclusion mapping solutions, including the new Meteorite™ system to be launched shortly and additional upgrades to be launched later in 2018 with further technological breakthroughs."