In a new step to expand its research, Gemological Institute of America which is popularly known as "GIA" is planning to come up with a Laboratory in Gaborone, Botswana in the later part of 2008, specifically in quater 4 of 2008.

Once the Lab is set, Educational courses and classes would begin immediately in this lab during the initial part of 2009. The step comes about after observing the high potential of this country in producing diamonds.

Botswana, a south african country, was judged as the world's top diamond producing country in the year 2007. This was in terms of value. 24 per cent of the worlds total, approximately $3 billion worth diamonds were produced from this country.

This country also ranked 2nd in the volume of diamonds produced. With about 33,638,000 carats which forms the 20% of world's total, the country was placed second to the Russian federation.

Botswana is also known best for using diamond trade to benefit its people. The diamond producing system has most of the local people employed.

Tom Moses, the senior vice president of GIA Lab and research said that GIA would be hiring around 20 local staff who will also be offered scholarships, education and trainings.

With this new laboratory, GIA would now have 4 lab outide USA which includes Mumbai (India), Bangkok, Thailand, and Johannesburg (South Africa). Plus GIA has some services from Dubai (UAE) and Hong Kong.

Trading of blood diamonds has been a problem for decades now. Although strict actions were implement to curb it, yet the kimberley process, the steps to curb this trade seems to be going out of control and weakening is most of the world's most problematic countries.

This report was revealed by Partnership Africa Canada (PAC) which is a NGO working against the blood diamond trade, in its annual review, "Diamonds and Human security" this week.

They reported that kimberley process is becoming less effective in most of the diamond producing countries where human rights is being violated. The working conditions have been terrible in this trade. This analysis comes into picture since the trade of rough diamonds have increased.

The analysis report said that "the kimberley process regulatory system, which was considered as the best glass three quarters full system, is increasingly falling down rather than becoming strong in dealing with the abuse and criminal acts in diamond trade.

The report included 13 countries which included three Angola, The Democratic Republic of Congo and sierra Leone-to, for the first time. These countries are majorly in both Africa and South America.

There is also political face to this trade. The governments are corrupted in most of these diamond producing countries.

In an unexpected discovery, Gemclear discovered that a batch of Blue Topaz is not compliant with Nuclear Regulatory commission (NRC) rules for irradiated gemstones. This organization announced the recent disclosure early this week.

Tested in Dallas based laboratory, these gems actually originate from a New York Jewelry dealer. The report from lab also stated that these stones exceed the NRC's limit for residual radioactivity during the testin that took place in september. Although Rick Krementz, president of Gemclear, clearly pointed out that Blue Topaz is not a dangerous stone and its radioactivity would slowly fade out with time.

He also added that the stones would be ready by novemeber for distribution and that any process or treatement cannot increase the speed of decay except time. These recent findins have put Blue Topaz in the frozen zone until next proceedings. Market would not see any Blue Topaz sale till the next call.

Earlier in 2007, in November, NRC had announced that only those Jewelry companies who are licensed can import or initialy distribute irradiated stones in US. At the time when this was imposed, No US based jewelry company was licensed to meet up this expectation. Later a number of companies got license after proper scrutiny.

Krementz also adviced that every dealer should ensure that they import gems that are tested and are compliant with NRC norms and that they have a proper control over the supply chain.

It a lawsuit filed against Jewelry Television earlier this year, in regards to wrongly showing the gemstone information and disclosing details, has reached a settlement with its consumers. The consumers had sued JTV, the on air Jewelry retailer, for selling treated Gemstone without fully disclosing it.

The Lawsuit was filed alleging that red and green andesine labradorite gemstone was advertised as natural and not as lab produced. Its a crime to showcase a particular Jewelry as natural while it has been lab produced.

On the other hand, Jewelry Television team keeps on denying these allegations saying there was nothing wrong in the presentation. It kept claiming that the representation is based on industry literature and information which they got from the suppliers and gemstone lab reports from national accredited labs.

The details of the settlement has not be disclosed, its believed that JTV ended up giving cash refunds and JTV store credits to the consumers. It is also believed from the online statement on settlement that JTV would have to educate the consumers and hence conduct trainings for JTV employees to ensure that this gemstone is properly marketed in future.

Have you ever heard this term - Palladium? Well certainly not till now but soon it would become a part of your Jewelry collection. This new metal, Palladium, is highly affordable and comes with great options for customers. The quality of Palladium ranks equal to quality of platinum, gold and likes. With such amazing features, Palladium will soon become a sensation in the jewelry Market in near future.

Palladium belongs to the platinum group and it is far more less expensive alternative to platinum or white gold. Its shinning and attractive appearance can make other Jewelry look dim. It can be made into attractive jewelry with its white appearance and shimmer, it would surely stand out in the crowd! Palladium is a pure metal, Hypoallergenic”, which itself is very inexpensive.

The experts in Jewelry designing are trying hard to come up with a pure and functional form of jewelry by casting the palladium alloy into 950 palladium. Generally, Only this form of palladium is ideal for jewelry and once this is ready and developed, there would be an altoghether new metal which would create a revolution in the jewelry market.

One of the factors that raises the class of Palladium to that of white gold and platinum is Purity. In normal circumstances, gold has tob e mixed with other harder metals to increase its solidity and hence make stronger jewelry. This is ruled out in case of Palladium because palladium itself is a hard and durable metal. Gold is very soft and can damage the overall look of the jewelry due to little mishandling. That is why it is mixed with either silver or copper and instead of 24K gold, 14 or 18K gold is used for crafting jewelry. Palladium in comparison is durable and purer.

Another important factor that makes palladium rate higher than others is that it is 40% lighter than platinum. This characteristic of palladium makes it the favourite metal with people in jewelry business. A large portion of people who get disappointed with the weight of jewelry can now be satisfied with this lighter yet splendid metal. Generally we do not by big and bulky design in jewelry and hence try to avoid it most of the times. Since palladium is a tough metal and less dense, it can hold the stones in a much better way without being a weighty issue to you.

Durability of palladium is another positive characteristic, which is excellent for mounting gemstones in jewelry items. It will hold the gemstones tight and reduce the chances of falling. Thus stronger and at the same time beautiful pieces of jewelry can be made and the white splendor of palladium gives a great look to the jewelry. Another benefit of palladium is its price. Going for a platinum jewelry would mean puring out huge amounts or else, compromising on white gold or silver. Palladium is as high as platinum in purity and appearance but it is far cheaper than the latter. While more and more facts and details about this metal will be brought to people, the more fans of this metal increase. People can get well acquainted with its benefits before going for it. One of the finest features of the quality of palladium is that suits almost all skin types. Your skin will not suffer any skin allergies or adversities. The alloys that are used to make gold contain nickel which causes a considerable amount of pollution.

Looking at the superior quality of palladium over many other metals, there is a huge possibility that it will be an instant success with jewelers, designers as well as customers. In no time, you will see this metal and the jewelry made with it which will look lavish with its platinum like characteristics. A huge demand is also expected in the wedding range of palladium jewelry.