RAPAPORT... The Diamond Bourse of Canada, located in Toronto, will be fully operational by the end of March 2010. The bourse officially opened in January and its management and staff have been preparing services to offer members since then.
 
The new bourse's president, Bhushan Vora, said that the trading floor will not only provide a physical space in which members can deal diamonds, but will also serve as a valuable business facility. 

 

"Apart from offering secretarial and other technical services, we want the bourse floor to be a source of education, where members can attend seminars and lectures about diamonds and related areas of interest," he said.
 
Taking the lead from several of the veteran diamond exchanges, Vora said that a technological center is located on the trading floor and features advanced systems provided by several leading diamond equipment providers. Sarin Technologies has donated a Diamension proportion and cut-grading machine and a Colibri color-grading machine. De Beers has donated a Diamond Sure machine used to identify synthetic and high pressure-high temperature (HPHT) diamonds. HRD Antwerp NV provided the bourse with a D Screen machine that also detects synthetic and HPHT diamonds and a gemological microscope.
 
A grading certificate window is already operating at the bourse and serves as a drop-off point where members can submit diamonds for certification and receive same-day diamond grading services.  A Custom Bonded Warehouse will be open and ready for business in the third week of March, when members will have the option of inspecting their goods there or bringing in a customer to preview goods before clearing them through Customs.
 
Finally, the bourse will offer the first in a series of upcoming seminars on March 12 at 2:30 p.m. local time. In this session,  the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) will host a discussion on how the diamond industry and financial institutions can work together more effectively. The seminar will be held at the bourse, located at  20 Richmond Street East in Suite 302 in Toronto.

LH