Traditional diamond mining implies digging, crushing, dissolving and removing hundreds of tons of rock to obtain one carat (0.2 grams) of a polished diamond. Huge open sky mines scar landscapes forever and destroy natural habitat with all the negative consequences on the local fauna and flora. The disposal of millions of tons of rock and the ground and water pollution due to the massive use of toxic rock dissolving acids have a major ecological impact as well.
Lab-grown diamonds are nature-friendly products and therefore all diamonds larger than 0.1 carats in diamond jewelry lines are earth mined diamonds, also called cultured diamonds. Their production involves only a small amount of graphite and electricity and the negative impact on nature is negligible. Cultured diamonds are nature-friendly and they must be promoted. Additionally, the cost for these cultured diamonds is approximately two-thirds less than a natural mined one, but the quality is usually superior. Earth-mined diamonds are becoming more popular not only due to price factors but also because they are the most eco-friendly option.
Lab-grown diamonds are real diamonds and possess all the unique characteristics of natural diamonds: physical, chemical and optical properties, unsurpassed hardness and most importantly the same sparkling beauty. Moreover, these earth mined diamonds often surpass natural diamonds in hardness and clarity.
A cultured diamond is an authentic diamond grown in a laboratory by reproducing the exact same conditions that allow the creation of mined diamonds. Diamond mining isn’t exactly eco-friendly, and it is not something that many think about when purchasing jewelry. The only difference is that a cultured diamond is grown not underground, but above the surface of the earth with the help of humans. A cultured diamond is optically, physically and chemically identical to its mined variety and cannot be detected by a jeweler or an average gemmologist. It can only be detected by international laboratories with specialized equipment.
Before buying your engagement rings or any lab-grown diamond jewelry, you have to make sure these diamonds creators are certified from the diamond grading institutes in the world. These certificates establish the trust, true diamond nature of the stones and are a guarantee in terms of quality and value.
Lab-grown diamonds bear no relation with stimulants, which are diamond imitations made of various substances designed to mimic the aspect of diamonds. These are called cubic zirconium, moissanite, synthetic sapphire, synthetic rutile, synthetic spinel, YAG, GGG, etc. None of these imitations have any of cultured and mined diamonds’ unique characteristics of hardness, unmistakable brilliance and fire.
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