Mined versus Grown Diamonds

There is so much to be said on the topic of diamonds, and this has always been the case. However, now we have two types of diamonds to consider before we even start with the “4 C’s”, and these are mined and grown diamonds.

Starting with the biggest ticket item – grown diamonds are still a diamond.

If you were to place a diamond tester on top of a grown diamond, the light will shoot into the diamond and refract a beam of light back giving the same reading that is unique to diamonds.

This is because it is a diamond on a molecular level, it’s science! The difference is that one formed below ground over 1-3 billion years, and the other took approximately 3-4 weeks and formed above ground.

One of the first thoughts you might be thinking is that a grown diamond must be the “greener” option, this isn’t necessarily the case. Even though we aren’t unearthing a football field worth of earth to source the diamond, growing diamonds still requires a lot of energy.

The process for growing starts from what is called a ‘diamond seed’, which is essentially a slither of a diamond. Using a high pressure and high temperature above ground chamber, the diamond naturally forms over approximately 3-4 weeks.

Once the rough diamond has formed, it will go through the traditional process of being assessed, cut and then independently graded. At the end of this process, each diamond will have it’s own certificate which lists all of it’s specifications and unique identification number (inscribed onto the girdle of the diamond) which links the diamond to it’s certificate, and therefore point of origin.

Hopefully now having read the above and understanding a little of the process, it makes sense as to why grown diamonds are 40%-50% less than traditionally mined diamonds. Without knowing a few small details it’s easy to think that a lower price point would mean a lower quality product, but this is not the case. At She Fine Jewellery, we use only a small handful of grown diamond suppliers who highest quality, pure and conflict-free lab grown diamonds.

Contact Cassidy if you have any further questions or would like to view and compare in store.