Canadian diamond exploration and mining company Lucara Diamond has appointed a new chief executive in a move towards modernizing the diamond industry with Blockchain technologies, the Financial Times reported today, Feb. 26.

The new CEO, Eira Thomas, will lead the company after its recent purchase of Clara Diamond Solutions for $29 mln, or 13.1 mln shares. Clara is a digital platform that utilizes both cloud and Blockchain technologies to “[ensure] diamond provenance from mine to finger,” according to the Nasdaq press release.

Lukas Lundin, chairman of Lucara, said,

“We believe that Clara will not only modernise the entire diamond sales process but unlock additional value for all participants across the diamond market.”

Blockchain systems are seeing increased use in supply chain management as they can streamline the process by permanently recording each transaction on the Blockchain, significantly increasing transparency.

Lucara’s turn to Blockchain comes a month after De Beers, one of the world’s largest diamond producers, launched a pilot Blockchain initiative also for tracking a diamond’s supply chain to ensure each diamond is conflict-free.