ICA GemLab Pushes Coloured Gemstone Authentication to Higher Scientific Standards

When Amira Hatta, managing director of Thailand-based ICA GemLab, describes 2025 as "extraordinary," she has the numbers to support it. The laboratory processed over 20 different gemstone species last year, with demand running strongest across corundum, beryl, topaz, spodumene, and quartz. Origin determination ranked as the most requested service, particularly for high-value stones, with treatment detection close behind.

Founded in 2016, ICA GemLab has built its reputation in coloured gemstone authentication around a combination of gemological expertise and advanced instrumentation. The laboratory says it can attribute origin across more than 40 geographical deposits, a capability it attributes to pairing the knowledge of its gemologists with its analytical instrument suite, which includes both LA-ICP-MS and EDXRF technology.

The LA-ICP-MS, or Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer, sits at the center of the lab's technical offering. Beyond placing geographical origin, the instrument tests for beryllium and profiles multiple trace elements simultaneously. Beryllium detection matters enormously in the coloured stone trade: beryllium diffusion treatment, used to alter the colour of corundum, is difficult to detect without highly sensitive instrumentation, and undisclosed treatment can misrepresent a stone's value significantly. Hatta told GemsWorld that demand for beryllium testing via LA-ICP-MS rose notably in 2025, and she made a pointed claim about the lab's standing: "We are one of only three labs globally that offers this level of beryllium testing. This is a real differentiator for us." That assertion has not been independently verified, but it signals how the laboratory positions its technical capabilities within a competitive global field.

The demand driving these services is not incidental. Hatta described a structural shift in who is seeking certification and why. "Demand is coming from all directions," she said, identifying luxury brands requiring certified provenance, affluent collectors seeking investment-grade documentation, customs authorities, established traders, and emerging miners "who understand the importance of verified origins to gain access to premium markets." The mine-to-market journey, once a niche concern of ethically minded consumers, has become a commercial requirement in the upper tiers of the gem and jewellery trade.

ICA GemLab also reported partnerships with high-profile brands and major trade associations in 2025, though specific partners were not disclosed. These relationships, the lab says, have strengthened its credibility at a moment when the market increasingly treats a certified origin report not as optional documentation but as a prerequisite for serious commerce. For a nine-year-old laboratory still establishing its place in a field long dominated by institutions in Gübelin, GIA, and Geolab, that positioning represents a meaningful claim on the market's future direction.