GIA On Its Overseas Lab Plans

GIA's plan to open up overseas labs has raised questions, and so we thought we'd get more details from the president of GIA, Donna Baker …

And, well, we didn't really get any… The first priority seems to be expanding GIA's Thailand lab into diamond grading, which she says will happen relatively "soon." As far as where the other overseas labs will be, she says they are looking at the major diamond centers, as well as Southern Africa and Southeast Asia, but stressed that nothing is set in stone. She said this will begin "over the next few years," but didn't have dates or anything else.

"We plan a methodical approach," she said, "carefully planned and implemented."

As far as maintaining standards in these far-flung locales, she said that "we pay attention to that every single minute of every day." She said the GIA's current business reengineering process, which also aims to cut turnaround time, is also working to maintain quality standards across the board.

And that's about it. We'll bring you more details as they come. Baker doesn't expect these lab expansions to raise the firestorm the GIA's aborted attempt to open a lab in Antwerp did ten years ago — and for that matter, neither do I. Comments welcome.