Green Diamonds

Canada Mark

CANADAMARK is a hallmark brand that belongs to the BHP Billiton group of companies, the major share holders of the Ekati mines of Canada. Under this program, each rough stone mined from the Ekati mine is tracked from the stage of mining till it reaches the retailer as a finished diamond.

CANADAMARK History

The history of the CANADAMARK brand of diamonds dates back to 1990s. During this time, the Ekati diamond mine was discovered in the southern part of the harsh artic circle, located in the northwest territories of Canada. This mine, the first to be discovered in Canada, with its large supply of diamonds made Canada the third largest supplier of quality diamonds in the world. BHP Billiton acquired this mine and its diamonds and started selling them under the Aurias trade name. In order to verify the authenticity of Canadian original diamonds, mined from here, the CanadaMark service was launched by the BHP Billiton group Inc. Soon it also pioneered a tracking system also that would store records of all Canadamark diamonds in its database.

Partners and process

The CanadaMark program is a result of the efforts of the Canadian government, and the private sector and is designed to identify Canadian diamonds. Each CanadaMark diamond is laser engraved with a unique serial number and primary brand logo on the girdle of the diamond. It is also accompanied with the CanadaMark certificate of origin.

The CanadaMark program sends a different selection of diamonds to each CanadaMark dealers and wholesalers like Tri-star. Some dealers (like Regal Imports) and brands (like Hallmark of quality Canadian diamonds) are offered a priority in selecting better colors and higher grades of clarity diamonds. Then other dealers of the CanadaMark program receive the remaining diamonds under a separate quality program.

Once dealers receive the CanadaMark certificate of origin they utilize the services of various laboratories like GIA , HRD etc. to certify the quality of the diamond and provide the standard of grading.

These stones can easily be tracked online from a verification page.

Significance of CanadaMark

This brand signifies that a diamond is truly of Canadian origin and has never left the custody of the miners of BHP Billiton, operators of the Ekati mine. These diamonds come with the assurance that they are untreated, natural and promise the guarantee of a known origin and strict standards. However only the origin of the stone is guaranteed by CanadaMark and not its quality. Each CanadaMark diamond follows a consistent standard of quality program. Thus stones falling under strict parameters of cut, color, clarity, symmetry and finish only are chosen as CanadaMark diamonds.

While purchasing CanadaMark diamonds, customers must be careful of purchasing only the original stones. Do not buy diamonds from non-signatory sellers who are not part of the Canadian diamond code of conduct. Buyers may be subject to investigation whereby their diamonds need to be verified for their origin.

Today there are also many cases of misleading certificates of Canadian origin in circulation too. These stones are often not of Canadian origin and the certificates are created by vendors and not by the miners or local government. To ensure that a stone is truly CanadaMark , customers can use the online verification page and enter the unique serial number for details.