Spotting the heat-treated greens.

GIA says it can identify easily Novatek's new heat-treated green diamonds. But others warn that considerable research may still have to be done.

Life, it seems, is getting progressively more complicated. As we reported earlier, Novatek, a company based in Provo, Utah, which is one of the newer players in the diamond technology arena, says it can transform brown "champagne" diamonds into intense yellow-green fancies. To do that, it uses high temperature and pressure in a process similar to the one General Electric uses for Lazare Kaplan's Pegasus diamonds.

Novatek, a company which specializes in industrial synthetics, turns the brown gem-quality stones greenish-yellow, by subjecting them to high pressure and temperatures of 2,000 degrees Celsius. The company can reportedly treat 10 diamonds in a half-hour.

The company, which will market the treated diamonds under the name NovaDiamond plans to sell the stones with full disclosure, including laser inscriptions and grading reports, at a price that is 35 to 50 percent higher than a comparable near-colorless stone. The stones will primarily be sold on the Internet and to select retailers.

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