The Gemological Institute of America’s (GIA) Laboratory in Johannesburg recently completed its second anniversary, after having opened in February 2008. “Our intake has increased by nearly 200 percent in the last eight months,” said Les Milner, director of the GIA Lab in Johannesburg. “This is due to a number of factors, but the most significant is that our clients recognise the high standards of grading GIA offers. They say it is easier for them to sell stones with a GIA report.”

The Johannesburg staff follows the same international grading standards as applied across all the global GIA Labs. The original grading staff was trained at GIA’s world headquarters in 2008. The Johannesburg lab offers the GIA Diamond Dossier® and the GIA Diamond Grading Report for stones up to 2.99 carats. GIA was granted a value-added tax exemption, so these services are not subject to the traditional fee for shipping stones outside of South Africa for servicing.