Artificial diamonds appear, why the price of diamonds has not dropped?

1. For a long time, the cost of man-made diamonds is high
The annual natural diamond mining volume is about 26 tons, but the mining cost is only 40-60 US dollars per carat.

The output of man-made diamonds has long surpassed that of natural diamonds, as high as 1,000 tons per year, but the synthetic cost of man-made gem-quality diamonds was about 2,500 US dollars per carat. (before 2012)

2. Quality differentiation
1. Almost all man-made diamonds are colored.

This also tells us that buying colored diamonds is more likely to encounter man-made diamonds, because almost all man-made diamonds are colored, while only 0.01% of natural diamonds are colored.

2. Most artificial diamonds have small particle sizes.

For quite some time, most synthetic diamonds were between 1 carat (200 mg) and 1.5 carats (300 mg).

3. Market structure

At present, 98% of industrial diamonds come from artificial diamonds, which are mainly used in machining and cutting tools, heat conduction, optical materials and electronic products.
Less than 1% of gem-quality diamonds come from man-made diamonds, and most are still occupied by natural diamonds.

The reason why the market structure is so, we must talk about the fourth point - marketing.

 

4. Marketing

The story about De Beers is known as the most successful marketing in the 20th century - "Diamonds are forever, and one piece will last forever".

But are diamonds "forever"? Lavoisier has already told us the answer to this question with a magnifying glass.

I won't say much, to avoid being hunted down by capital...

 

5. The market is changing

1. Traditional diamond mining violates the human rights of the mining area, as reflected in the movies "Lord of War" and "Blood Diamond". Ideologically, natural diamonds may be even more infamous.

2. In recent years, the production process of artificial diamonds has been improved. In May 2015, the high temperature and high pressure method set a record for a 10.02-carat colorless diamond. The process of colorless diamonds produced by chemical vapor deposition is also very mature.
Since 2016, the price of man-made diamonds has been greatly reduced, which is 15-20% lower than that of natural diamonds.
Image of colorless diamonds produced by chemical vapor deposition
3. China has become the largest producer of man-made diamonds, providing 90% of the world's man-made diamonds.
4. Diamond giants including De Beers have begun to bow to synthetic diamonds. De Beers announced in 2018 that they will launch a new jewelry brand called "Lightbox" featuring synthetic diamonds.

 

6. Future diamonds
There are really a lot of diamonds in the universe, so many that you can't believe it!

1. In meteorites, 3% of the mass is composed of carbon, and they all exist in the form of nano-diamonds, most of which are several nanometers in diameter.

2. Uranus and Neptune, the two ice giants, are constantly raining diamonds in the dark sky every day.

3. Diamond Planet
There is such a planet 50 light-years away from the sun, its scientific name is BPM 37093, but because this planet is so wonderful, astronomers kindly call it "Lucy"!
The diameter of "Lucy" is smaller than that of the earth, but its mass is 10% heavier than that of the sun. Scientists have discovered through research that most of the inner core of this planet, which has become a white dwarf, is made of diamonds.
But some people pointed out that calling it a diamond planet is purely a gimmick, and it is actually a supersolid substance, which is completely different from the normal substance we are familiar with.

In short, the universe is so rich in diamonds, I don’t know when space logistics will deliver them to us.
At that time, will we still be entangled in the price of diamonds?
Our journey will surely be a sea of stars!