GUIDANCE NATURAL VS LAB DIAMOND

Due to the efficiency of lab diamond production, their cost can be up to 50% to 70% less than natural diamonds, which take billions of years to form and require expensive mining endeavours. Furthermore, lab diamond creation requires far less land than mining, and choosing a lab diamond reduces the risk of inadvertently selecting a blood diamond, which is highly unlikely but possible.

Mined and lab-grown diamonds share a common composition of pure carbon that undergoes a transformation process to become sparkling cubic crystals. Although lab-grown diamonds possess the same optical properties as natural diamonds due to their identical chemical makeup, they lack inherent rarity. Natural diamonds are formed over thousands of years through intense pressure deep within the earth's crust, resulting in their unique scintillating appearance. Consequently, all natural diamonds that will ever exist have already been created, rendering them a permanent rarity. In contrast, lab-grown diamonds can be produced without limit.

Diamond simulants have a completely distinct chemical composition from diamonds. Conversely, lab diamonds and natural diamonds have an identical chemical composition, making them genuine diamonds. Diamond simulants can appear vastly dissimilar to diamonds, especially in terms of their sparkle, which is generally not as radiant, sharp, colourless, and brilliant as that of a diamond.

Lab diamonds should not be confused with diamond simulants. Unlike diamond simulants, which are gems specifically designed to imitate diamonds without being true diamonds, lab diamonds are genuine diamonds. Examples of diamond simulants include maisonettes and cubic zirconia.

Lab-grown diamonds, as the name suggests, are created in a laboratory and have the same chemical and physical properties as natural diamonds. Conversely, CZ is an entirely different material with its own composition and properties, produced in a lab to mimic the appearance of diamonds.

Cubic zirconia, often referred to as ‘CZ’, is artificially produced in a lab, but it differs from a lab diamond in several ways. CZ is a distinct gemstone with its own set of characteristics that are dissimilar to diamonds. Despite being a low-cost option and often colourless and unblemished, CZ is highly susceptible to scratches and has a comparatively unremarkable sparkle. Unlike a lab diamond, CZ emits a less intense, more artificial-looking rainbow-like sparkle. Additionally, even if it is colourless upon creation, CZ can eventually become yellowish over time. Lab-grown diamonds offer a more genuine and longlasting alternative, with exceptional brilliance and durability. On the other hand, CZ is a much cheaper and inferior substitute that is prone to scratching, lacking the brilliance, and longevity of a genuine diamond.

Moissanite is now artificially produced. However, moissanite is distinct from lab-grown diamonds. Moissanite is highly durable and can be manufactured with exceptional clarity. However, the gemstone's colour is often characterised by hues of grey, brown, yellow, or green. In contrast to lab diamonds, moissanite exhibits a fiery sparkle that produces an abundance of rainbow-like colours, which can be a clear indication of its artificial origin. The biggest drawback of moissanite is its tendency to appear fuzzy or hazy, which is due to its double refraction. The size of the moissanite impacts this issue, becoming more noticeable in larger stones.

Moissanite has an exceptional sparkle that is distinct from diamonds. In fact, Moissanite sparkles even more brightly and with more colour than diamonds, which is hard to believe! The amount of coloured sparkle that Moissanite reflects is almost twice that of a diamond, which gemologists refer to as "dispersion". Moissanite has a dispersion of 0.104, while diamonds have a dispersion of 0.044. As a result, Moissanite has a firework-like appearance when compared to diamonds side by side.

Creating lab-grown diamonds is a process that requires a significant amount of energy. However, lab diamond creators are continually making efforts to reduce the amount of time and resources required to produce each diamond. Initially, it was suggested that creating a lab diamond required 250 kWh of energy. Nevertheless, some producers are now claiming to use as little as 20 kWh to create a diamond.

Compared to mined diamonds, lab-grown diamonds are much more sustainable in terms of land use. Diamond mining necessitates vast areas of land exploration, whereas a diamond laboratory can be relatively compact and does not require any form of mining or excavation.

Moreover, more and more lab-grown diamonds on the market are being created with renewable energy. Producers are increasingly using solar power to manufacture diamonds or investing in ways to offset their carbon emissions. It is expected that the demand for carbon-neutral diamonds will drive many diamond laboratories to reevaluate their manufacturing processes and strive for more eco-friendly production.

Overall, lab-grown diamonds are considered far more sustainable than mined diamonds. As technologies are refined to become more efficient and less consumptive, their sustainability is anticipated to increase further.