CVF Technologies Corp said its Gem print technology uses a laser to fingerprint the unique light patterns from a cut stone, digitizes the information and downloads it to an international database located in Toronto.

The company believes its system is the answer governments are seeking to ensure a certificate of origin, regime and halt illegal gem sales by rebels from war-torn countries like Sierra Leone, Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Major producers like South Africa, Botswana and Namibia fear that their diamond industries are at stake, unless they can clamp down on the illicit gem trade that is fanning civil wars across Africa. The World Diamond Council, which represents the global diamond industry, asked the United States, to ban imports of conflict diamonds. The United States accounts for up to half the world's gem sales. Canada's diamond-rich Northwest Territories said it had been using the Gemprint system since December, and had certified up to 700 diamonds for export.

The diamonds are from Canada's only producing diamond mine - Ekati, part owned by Australia's BHP Ltd. and Canada's Dia Met Minerals Ltd., which produces nearly three million carats a year. About 10 per cent of the Ekati diamonds are cut in the Northwest Territories although the majority are handled by De Beers Consolidated Mines.

Experts in rough diamonds are able to tell with some certainty where gems are from, although it is more difficult to tell a diamond's origin once the stone is cut and it loses up to 50 per cent of its weight in the process. Mr Jeff Dreben, president and Chief executive of CVF, said his company had acquired the initial technology from an Israeli firm in 1994 and since then has been developing it, particularly for the diamond industry.

"When we saw the global need for identification and certification developing because of this African situation, we really ramped up our focus in that area and we now are proud to say that we have the first certification system in the world," Mr Dreben said. There are already 110 Gemprint customers in North America, Mr Dreben said.

"What we now have are diamonds that are being mined in Canada, cut in Canada and certified with the Gemprint system as to origin of the stone. The certificate actually travels with the stone which indicates the origin of the stone," Mr Dreben added. MrBob Bies, the Northwest Territories' manager for diamond business development, said the territory's government had developed a stringent monitoring program and the Gemprint system had enhanced its credibility.

"We wanted a program that people were comfortable with, that these were genuine stones, and we thought with the Gemprint technology it could enhance the credibility of the program and demonstrate to people that we are serious and we can track diamonds.

"When the stone leaves the factory, it is then suddenly not part of our tracking process and the Gemprint technology bridges that gap. As soon as it is Gemprinted, it has an invisible signature for that diamond and it is on a database, and we can always check to see if that is the diamond and where it is from," he said.

He said it takes just a few seconds to fingerprint every stone. One diamond cutting factory in the Northwest Territories is branding a tiny polar bear on its diamonds from the region, but Mr Bies said this could easily be erased.

(Reuters)