January 2024 | Lab Grown Magazine

January 2024 | The Lab Grown Diamond Resource Book 20 Mailed to 24,000 Jewelers Monthly - To advertise call (888) 832-1109 | January 2024 21 icking off the year with facts, we’ll focus on the Natural Diamond Council (NDC) 2023 Diamond Fact s study, which, at times poses more questions than answers. While the NDC introduces their diamond report, initially released in April of 2023 as unbiased research, its main objective is to present natural diamonds in the most favorable light. The non-profit group accumulated public data from over two hundred sources, which are stated to be “from a wide range of secondary research sources and the evaluation of internal research conducted on behalf of the NDC by globally respected third-party organizations.” The study addresses headline topics including LGDs price drop, sustainability concerns and FTC-approved diamond-specific wording. They do so while repeatedly comparing natural diamonds to their cloned competitor. With utter respect to the NDC and their report, several items are challenging to accept since evidence proves the NDC is breaking their own rules. They are also quoting from published articles - some dating back to 2015 and from sources such as Vogue . To be fair, most of the resource data offered in this NDC paper is from 2022, and many of those references are from diamond-related publishers like the GIA, IGI and diamond analyst Paul Zimnisky. Yet, they often contradict themselves, which we’ll illustrate within this story. Rarely Understood The NDC has shifted from a home page position calling colorless diamonds “rare,” to a more visual presentation to express their point. The adjective “rare” as defined by Oxford Dictionary is: “(of a thing) not found in large numbers and consequently of interest or value.” We need not read past the first eight words to be reminded that rare is something that is “not found in large numbers.” The NDC visual representing the annual recovery of one carat diamonds “is equivalent in volume to filling an exercise ball.” Move to five carats and above and you’re at the annual max diamond output filling a basketball. While it’s understandable (due to Russian geopolitical issues) that Alrosa, one of three