Spence Diamonds doesn’t believe that mined stones are a “superior choice” for all consumers. Their approach is to provide customers with the best possible educational and shopping experience, including all options that may be appropriate for them. (Image courtesy of Spence Diamonds.)
Lab-grown diamonds, made for decades as an inexpensive alternative to mined stones for industrial purposes, are cracking the consumer market largely thanks to millennials' evolving shopping tastes.
In a survey of 1,000 consumers aged between 21 and 40, half of which had household incomes of $50,000 or higher, nearly 70% said they would consider buying a lab-grown diamond for an engagement ring, MVI Marketing revealed earlier this year. That was a 13 percentage-point increase from the year before, when 57% said the same.
Many claim that despite lab-grown diamonds increasing popularity, mined ones remain a superior choice. But Eric Lindberg, executive chairman of Canada’s Spence Diamonds, disagrees.
From a physical properties standpoint there are no differences between mined and man-made diamonds, at least for the consumer.
“We think that it’s wrong to assume there’s one ‘superior choice’ for all consumers. Our approach, and what we hope more of the industry will adopt, is to be advocates for our customers and to provide them with the best possible educational and shopping experience, including all options that may be appropriate for them,” he told MINING.com.
Synthetic diamonds have the same physical and chemical features as mined stones. They’re made from a carbon seed placed in a microwave chamber and superheated into a glowing plasma ball. The process creates particles that can eventually crystallize into diamonds in just 10 weeks. The technology is so advanced that experts need a machine to distinguish between...