Gem-sized CVD Diamonds: Diamonds Forever?

ArcticNews.ca - Arctic News Canada ^ | February 28, 2004 | Joseph Quillan

[nathanz]

-- Researchers synthesize gem-sized diamonds of natural colour and exceptional hardness using Chemical Vapour Deposition. --

WITH U.S. GOVERNMENT DEBT now topping US$7 trillion (about US$100,000 for each family of four), and interest rates at historic lows, new life is beginning to breathe through the Canadian resource sector. One sign of this renewed vigor is a sudden surge in prospecting claims being staked throughout vast tracts of the Canadian Arctic. Over 1,500 new permits have been issued this year for Nunavut alone, compared to 190 last year. And according to the Nunavut Mining Recorder’s Office in Iqualuit, the largest number of permits, 633, were granted to a single company, De Beers Canada Exploration Inc., a division of South African diamond giant De Beers.

It would seem from all this frantic activity that diamonds are about to regain some of the luster they had lost after the Russians began flooding the market with cheap synthetics in the late 1980's.

Investment in natural resource commodities, such as gold and diamond, is often a good hedge against devaluations in fiat currency brought about by monetary inflation. But stability in commodity prices is not a general characteristic of sector per se; they are strongly influenced by perception, demand, and technology. And the natural diamond industry is about to be hit with a technological inovation that could undermine much of it traditional value base.

A new synthetic process based on Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD), a technique commonly used in formulation of industrial diamond coatings, has been developed by a team of researchers headed up by scientists from the Carnegie Institution's Geophysical Laboratory in Washington, D.C.; a new process that looms menacingly above heads of the old industrial order.

Using CVD, the U.S. team has managed to seed formation of large, gem-sized diamonds of exceptional brilliance and hardness. Their results, published in the February 20 issue of Physica Status Solidi, also demonstrates another interesting characteristic inherent in the CVD product -- the gem-sized diamonds also appear to adopt colour characteristics inherent in the seed used to grow the diamond. Thus, a yellow diamond used to seed the growth of a new crystal, can impart some of its own colour to the much larger offspring.

Monopoly economics and consumer perception have long been important factors in helping to maintain the high price of diamonds. Improved techniques for manufacture of artificial diamonds on the other hand, such as high-pressure high-temperature (HPHT) diamonds produced in Russia, tend to eroded prices and chip away at carefully crafted consumer perceptions groomed by De Beers over the course of the last century.

When confronted with substantial “leakages” of Russian diamonds onto the market -- a description used by the De Beers itself -- marketing strategy was overhauled and the company restructured in the late 1990’s to deal with the emerging threat. To help with its new image, the Central Selling Organization (successor of the London Diamond Syndicate) which has controlled the vast majority of the world’s diamond trade for over a century, was replaced by (or transformed into) the Diamond Trading Company.

Part of company's strategy to help revive consumer sentiment in a sagging industry, was an attempt educate consumers, or mold perceptions, on what a “good” diamond really means, and by creating an image that impurities and imperfections found in natural diamond not be reproducible using HPHT, was a measure of authenticity and value.

But new developments in CVD diamond technology threaten to turn this latest strategy on its head.

With many jewelry consumers willing to settle for imitation diamonds -- such as those based on zirconium oxide (ZrO2), like Zircon (zirconium silicate; ZrSiO4) for example -- which is, from their unaided perspective, virtually indistinguishable from real diamond, marketing executives will have work hard to convince patrons why they should pay extra for natural stones simply because they contain structural flaws. Without the distinguishing colour characteristic, half of their sales pitch has suddenly vanished into thin air. At some point even their weathy patrons may balk at this idea, and begin settling for structurally superior synthetic product that is every way as esthetically pleasing as natural diamond, even though they may cost less.

Given the ease at which these diamonds seem to form using this CVD process -- a 2.4 mm single-crystal diamond created in only one day -- it is only a matter of time before industrial techniques employing CVD are honed, large scale production facilities set up, and prices begin to fall. When that happens, you will likely see a competition with natural stones really heats up.

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All rights reserved. © ArcticNews.ca, 2003

[Snowyman]

They have convinced a lot of people to spend money on something just to look at

That's pretty much it.

I think the intent of the article is simply to point out that given the US government debt and pressure on the value of the US dollar those seeking safe haven in diamonds , say rather than gold or silver , could find their safe haven , not so safe . Just manufactured away..

otoh, many just buy firearms to look at too.

[Quilla]

Are yellow diamonds and canary diamonds the same thing? Gemesis' yellows are too yellow for my taste, I prefer a much lighter color as in the canary diamonds I've seen.

[Dan Evans]

I wonder how long De Beers will stay in business with South Africa disintegrating into anarchy?

[Libertarianize the GOP]

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[farmfriend]

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[E.G.C.]

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