Lab Grown Diamonds

What are lab grown diamonds?

Lab grown diamonds are gemstones that are created in controlled laboratory conditions rather than mined from the earth. These are typically created using one of two methods:

High Pressure High Temperature (HPHT):

HPHT diamonds are produced in a laboratory by mimicking the high pressure, high temperature conditions that form natural diamonds in the Earth. This process produces a distinctively shaped laboratory-grown diamond crystal.

Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD)

The CVD method involves breaking down the molecules of a carbon-rich gas, such as methane, into carbon and hydrogen atoms, which then are deposited on diamond seeds to produce a square-shaped, tabular diamond crystal.

Growing diamonds by either method typically requires less than a month for most sizes. Most CVD-grown diamonds require additional treatments like heat or irradiation to enhance or change their colours after the growth process.

Laboratory-grown diamonds are essentially chemically and optically the same as their natural counterparts, traditional gemological observations and old-style “diamond detectors” are not able to tell them apart. Identification at a professional gemological laboratory or using sophisticated devices developed by GIA and other organisations are the only reliable methods to separate them from natural diamonds.

Certification

Both GIA and IGI laser inscribe a unique number on the girdle of the diamond (viewable under 50x magnification), which corroborates the unique number of its certification, where you’ll find the stone’s grading details. IGI adds the words ‘lab grown’ alongside this laser inscription.

Costing

Lab diamonds cost a lot less than natural diamonds - typically a lab diamond will cost between 60% and 85% less than a natural diamond with identical carat weight and grades.

Effectively, the time and cost of producing a lab diamond are a lot less than that of finding and mining a natural diamond. Natural diamonds take billions of years to form, and require extensive land mass to mine, as well as all the required infrastructure and workforce. In contrast, it takes one laboratory with a small (but highly skilled) workforce just a couple of weeks to create a lab diamond. After an initial, hefty investment in all the technology needed, this laboratory can go on producing lab diamonds - whereas the natural diamond mine will eventually run out of diamonds, and the miner will need to acquire more land to explore.

Essentially, diamond mining is nowhere close to being as cost efficient as lab diamond creation. That said, it is important to remember just how many livelihoods ethically-established diamond mines can support in mining-dependent communities. The cost of a natural diamond is absolutely worth it when you consider it to be a rarity of nature that has taken a great deal of investment, time and effort to find. Therefore, lab diamonds do not devalue natural diamonds, which are effectively priced as an entirely different entity.

Sustainability

In terms of land use, a lab diamond is far more sustainable than a mined diamond. Diamond mining requires vast expanses of land to be explored, whereas a diamond laboratory can be relatively compact, and does not require any form of excavation or mining.

Both natural and lab grown diamonds offer unique value to consumers. While lab diamonds are a more affordable and sustainable option, natural diamonds remain prized for their rarity and traditional appeal. UCreations offers both choices, allowing customers to select the diamond that best aligns with their preferences, values, and budget.