De Beers Group Ignite launched its latest diamond verification instrument, AMS Micro, one of the first devices to offer rapid, automated and autonomous screening of high volumes of the smallest melee diamonds. The first AMS Micro instrument will be delivered to the Swiss office of leading diamond manufacturer and De Beers sightholder, KGK, at the end of February.
Developed over two years, AMS Micro can screen up to 2,500 diamonds per hour in the 0.6mm to 0.9mm size range, automatically separating natural diamonds from lab-grown diamonds and other materials with a 0% false positive rate and a referral rate of less than 3%. These high accuracy rates have the potential to deliver savings of up to 50% on laboratory costs, depending on screening volumes.
The speeds and accuracy achieved by AMS Micro are made possible by a first-of-its-kind ‘robotic arm’ automated feed and dispense function, which requires no specialist expertise or outside supervision to operate and can save users on average five days for every 100 carats screened.
Sarandos Gouvelis, Head of De Beers Group Ignite, said: “AMS Micro represents an important breakthrough for the industry, as it greatly improves screening of the smallest sizes of diamonds by automating this process with very high levels of speed, accuracy and reliability – saving users significant time and money compared with existing manual processes. It comes to market following years of dedicated research and development by our leading scientists, working in collaboration with industry participants, and will be a game-changer for diamond businesses that deal in large volumes of melee diamonds.”
Patrik Schäfer, CEO of KGK’s Swiss office, said: “AMS Micro will help us to increase our volumes and delivery turnaround times to our customers, which addresses a key pain point for us currently. The KGK Group has been impressed by the innovation and capabilities offered by AMS Micro, which revolutionises the approach for screening diamonds in this size range, and we are excited about the long term benefits it will deliver to our business by providing enhanced assurance to our customers.”