Diamonds: an embodiment of eternal love, wealth, prosperity and even spiritual
enlightenment in some cultures. De Beers, the world’s leading rough diamond producer, has set
the meaning behind the diamond ring to what it is today: a sign of never ending love (The
Economist, 2019). "How else could two months' salary last forever?" Through taglines like this,
De Beers has made a diamond engagement ring a staple in weddings (The Economist, 2019).
Little do consumers know about the ethical concerns that hide behind the diamond that they wear
on their finger. Some diamonds are mined and sold to finance rebel groups that kill and destroy,
while others are mined under inhumane conditions, causing immense suffering to the miners
(Beldiamond, 2023). This has led to the discovery of Lab Grown Diamonds to be a “Eureka!”
moment in recent history.

The interest in finding a way to replicate a natural diamond has been prevalent ever since
the late 1800s but inefficient in putting into action due to the World Wars. It didn’t take long for
large firms to make their breakthrough after World War 2 though, as General Electric (GE)
created the first set of lab grown diamonds in 1954 (Ritani, 2023). Under a project codenamed
“Project Superpressure”, H. Tracy Hall, a GE chemist, used a high-pressure belt press to subject
small seed crystals to extreme conditions, dissolving graphite in metals like iron, nickel, and
cobalt, to accelerate the transformation of graphite into diamonds at temperatures of 1,600o C
(2,912o F) and pressures of 100,000 atm (Butcher, 2023).

While an incredible discovery, producing these synthetic diamonds with
high-temperatures and pressures proved too expensive to compete with natural diamonds.
Additionally, the initial synthetics were often yellow and had numerous inclusions, making them
unsuitable for high color and clarity grades used for white or colorless diamonds (Butcher,
2023). Nonetheless, this breakthrough laid the foundation for GE to develop gem-quality crystals
in 1971. Their method involved applying heat and pressure to a graphite seed at the center of a
tube, causing it to transform into a diamond (Butcher, 2023). In just a few decades, scientific
research conducted in the United States, Russia, and China enabled the creation of
laboratory-grown diamonds that could surpass natural diamonds in terms of carat weight, color,
and clarity (Butcher, 2023).

Nowadays, lab-grown diamonds pose a great threat to the diamond market. They have
soared in popularity due to their eco-friendly, conflict-free production, cost savings of up to 30%
compared to natural diamonds, and in some cases, surpassing natural diamonds in quality (The
Economist, 2019). The methods of high pressure high temperature (HPHT) and chemical vapor
deposition (CVD) have emerged as prominent methods for producing jewelry-grade diamonds
(Hadar, 2023). CVD is preferred for mass production because of its efficiency, while HPHT
specializes in producing high-quality colorless E-D grade diamonds (Hadar, 2023). To address

this, labs frequently apply a post-treatment process to improve the color of CVD diamonds,
enhancing their brilliance and reducing coloration (Hadar, 2023).

However, Alisa Moussaieff, “The Queen of Diamonds”, claims that lab-grown diamonds
will never take over the diamond industry, and rather create their own market in which natural
and lab-grown diamonds can coexist (The Economist, 2019). The rise in popularity of lab-grown
diamonds have not only served as competition for natural diamond producers, but also a call to
action for these producers to clean up the processes that produce their natural diamonds. As of
January 2019, Tiffany and Co, the biggest jeweler in the world by sales, will disclose the origin
of all of its diamonds (The Economist, 2019). A wave of transparency has taken over the jewelry
world, but for lab-grown diamonds the jewelry world is just a beginning.

Lab-grown diamonds have been able to disrupt the diamond market, with their ethical
ways of production, affordable prices, and serving as a call to action for diamond producers to
clean up their dirty ways. With the effects of synthetic diamonds being of huge magnitude even
outside of the diamond market, the discovery by H. Tracy Hall and Global Electric is one of great significance and a real “Eureka!” moment.

 

By Nishit Niki Jain