Do you know anything about artificial diamonds?

Question

I read an article that said it is cheaper to make artificial diamonds than mine them, and they can get the same quality. Is that true? If so then why aren't they putting all the diamond mines out of business? It would be great to see Debeers and the greedy diamond cartel go bust.

Answer 1

A while ago, there was a great uproar over a company that was proposing to "grow" diamonds out of thin wafers of diamond seeds. These "grown" diamonds were so good, that they were undistinguishable from the "real" thing.  In fact, they could produce flawless diamonds for pennies on the dollar.  Debeers believed they were going to undercut the diamond market, so they went ahead and pushed for a designation of diamonds that were made in the labs and mined from the Earth.  In reality, the grown diamonds are more perfect diamonds than those that are mind by the cartel.  

There are two major companies that are now in the diamond manufacturing business.

Gemesis - manufactures non-perfect colored diamonds.

Apollo Diamond - "grows", flawless, colorless diamonds. http://www.apollodiamond.com/

Answer 2

they maybe the same "quality" as they're referring to because they can make them as hard as diamond the real deal, the problem is the clarity.  for a good looking diamond you have to have incredibly to absolute pure carbon for them to form...... something that is impossible for us to do.

Answer 3

60 minutes had a segment on diamonds a few years back. Debeers pays the Russians millions to keep their diamonds off the market, they have rooms full of high quality diamonds. If they sold them they would make diamonds almost worthless. It would probably ruin the artificial market too.