Saskatchewan home to world-class diamond lab.

Diamonds may be a girl's best friend, but it appears as though there is plenty of competition within Saskatchewan to play second fiddle to the sparking gem. Of this circle of friends, perhaps no one is more predominant than the Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC).

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Thanks largely to burgeoning diamond exploration in the province, the SRC has developed a highly utilized and renowned diamond laboratory as part of its geoanalytical business unit. And, like the province's booming diamond exploration, SRC's diamond lab has recently experienced similar growth.

For instance, three years ago the laboratory had eight employees, while today that number has swooned to 100. As such, they've doubled their Saskatoon location to now incorporate 80 kilns compared to 40 of a year ago, which was increased from 10 kilns the previous year. To accommodate this growth, SRC's diamond lab has physically grown from a space of 3,500 square feet to 15,000 square feet.

"We've given ourselves enough expansion space to do the macrodiamonds and to take on more volume there as well," says Paul Labbe, vice-president of mining and minerals with the SRC.

Spun off from a uranium analytical laboratory about 18 years ago, Labbe acknowledges the diamond laboratory has fluctuated in size over the years to correspond with the market conditions of the day. Even more responsible, however, is the world-leading status that SRC has developed over this time.

"Our lab techniques are some of the best around and certainly the results are undeniable," says Labbe. "I think it's fair to say that every company doing diamond exploration in Canada right now sends us samples to our labs."

"I think our real strength is because we are government-owned, it's quite easy to demonstrate to people that we are a third party, objective lab," adds Labbe. "We don't have a vested interest in any results. Also because we are government-owned, we have the integrity to give them the real results, not some made-up thing that somebody likes to hear."

As such, not only does SRC process samplings from all across Canada, but they also have customers from around the world. In fact in 2005, it achieved De Beers "lab of choice" status for micro-diamond extraction. Labbe explains this distinction came from a competition-like series of analysis with five other laboratories from around the world, where SRC's findings were found to be tops among the competitors.

With the expansion, SRC is not just increasing its size but also its capabilities. They've added a specialized separation process called DMS, which represents the latest in technology for the diamond mining sector. All of this is done with a look ahead to the future, Labbe says.

"Our real goal is to create positive impact for Saskatchewan. We do these international things for a lot of good reasons, but we also are aware of what a diamond mind could mean to the province of Saskatchewan."