The diamond industry is controlled by a monopolistic company called DeBeers. You’re probably familiar with them; they’re the ones with the cheesy ads on TV claiming things like “a diamond is forever.” Most of us have the impression that diamonds are valuable because of a scarcity, like most valuable things are. But diamonds are far from being the rarest gems on earth. The reason they are so expensive is because DeBeers has created an artificial scarcity in order to jack up the prices. Diamonds are the stone of choice for engagement and wedding rings, not because of some intrinsic value on their part, but because of a concerted marketing effort on the part of DeBeers. FYI, DeBeers is currently being prosecuted for “price fixing.”
Historically, DeBeers has shown little concern whether the diamonds they obtain are provided by legal or illegal suppliers. This lack of ethics lies at the heart of many problems in Africa, where diamond smuggling is all too common, and leads to open conflict and even warfare between many groups that mine diamonds.
So by now, you may be wondering how you can get your sweetheart the stone of tradition, without purchasing a gem that is tainted with corruption and monopoly. Well, artificial diamonds have been an option for some time, being produced first in 1953. They were originally formed by subjecting carbonic substances to high pressures and temperatures. Unfortunately, it has for some time been more expensive to produce diamonds than to mine them. But technology continues to advance. Currently, artificial diamonds can be produced that are indistinguishable from naturally formed diamonds. General Electric is one company that creates diamonds today.
Most important to the artificial diamond business, though, a new technology for artificial diamond creation has been developed. There is a company that plans to release their virtually flawless artificial diamonds to the public in 2005. Gemesis creates their diamonds with crystal growth chambers, where the diamond creation begins with a sliver of natural diamond, and are grown in special chambers. Using this method, the creation of artificial diamonds takes mere days, and this technology will drastically reduce the cost of diamonds. The previously rare colored diamonds- reds, blues, and yellows- can also be created artificially through this method, by introducing small amounts of the right chemicals.
Apollo Diamond is another company that plans to release their artificial diamonds in 2005. They also have found a way to create practically flawless diamonds at a much lower cost than DeBeers is willing to offer.
These new methods of diamond creation can produce higher quality, larger diamonds than any artificial synthesizing method available before. And from the sounds of things, both these companies despise DeBeers’ methods and politics, and plan to release their products to the public at drastically lower prices. So if you’re planning on proposing to that special someone, you may want to consider putting off the proposal until 2005, or at least waiting until then to get the ring. You’ll start out your marriage a lot richer.
By Riannon Cutler