De Beers, Sarine Team Up on Diamond-Tracking Solution

De Beers and Sarine Technologies are joining forces to create a system that will let Group of Seven (G7) countries see the full provenance of all diamonds passing through customs.

The Tracr-Sarine program will build on De Beers’ ability to register rough diamonds and Sarine’s to objectively verify a diamond’s journey from rough to polished, De Beers said Monday. The data from Sarine’s diamond-processing technology will be uploaded onto De Beers’ Tracr diamond-tracking platform, which will host a dedicated customs portal for government officials from G7 and other participating nations.

“Diamond provenance assurance is a rapidly growing priority that will affect all parts of the industry, especially with G7 nations set to implement new import restrictions,” said Tracr CEO Wes Tucker. “The collaboration between Tracr and Sarine will bring together the best of both our propositions to deliver a highly effective, scalable and cost-effective digital diamond traceability solution.”

That solution “can play a key role within the inclusive framework of the G7 diamond protocol facilitated by the World Diamond Council (WDC),” he added — a reference to the G7’s recent move to impose an import ban on Russian diamonds.

De Beers does not expect the joint project to have a large impact on the supply chain itself; Tracr already has more than 1.5 million rough diamonds registered at the source, while Sarine processes over 100 million diamonds annually, the miner noted.

“The collaboration…will enable the diamond value chain to quickly accelerate the volume of diamonds undergoing data-based verifiable traceability, which is the need of the hour,” stated Sarine CEO David Block.

Main image: Rough diamonds. (Shutterstock)