Ernie Blom
Photo by: Duane Daws
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Urgent action was needed to stop diamonds being sold with overstated certification, World Federation of Diamond Bourses president Ernie Blom said on Friday.
Blom, who blamed a few laboratories for damaging the reputation of the entire diamond industry, urged stakeholders the world over to stand together to eliminate what represented a serious challenge to the integrity of the diamond business.
“Decisive and immediate action is required to eliminate this practice,” he said of the aberration, which surfaced after diamond standards watchdog Rapaport excluded overstated laboratory-issued certificates.
It would be discussed at a meeting of major laboratories and had to be resolved to retain the consumer confidence that sustained the international diamond trade.
“Ethical grading and certification are the most basic principles of the industry and these cannot be compromised,” Blom said, adding that, as part of sales transactions, diamond sellers provided guarantees of what was being sold, which formed binding contracts.
Sellers could not later hide behind an overstated grading report claiming ignorance.
Blatant cases of misrepresentation could amount to fraud, he warned in a media release to Mining Weekly Online.