The South China Morning Post writes that the dominant diamond player De Beers is reacting badly to the arrival of large numbers of good, tiny, lab-grown diamonds. The synthetics challenge the widely-promoted assertion that diamond prices only go up. However, labs are now able to produce chemically identical gem-quality stones, indistinguishable by the naked eye from mined diamonds, in quantities pushing 200k carats of diamonds per month. Synthetic diamonds still only account for %1 of rough diamond sales globally, but that is expected to expand to between 7.5% to 15% by 2020.
(Score: 2) by Beryllium Sphere (r) on Tuesday November 20 2018, @05:50AM (1 child)
Anyone who calls them "fake" I will not trust, in fact.
I find it an overwhelming advantage that they can be ethically sourced. My wife is adamant (pun intended) that any future diamonds from me will be the embodiment of human knowledge and skill, not dug out of a pit by mistreated workers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 20 2018, @05:54PM