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A Strange Year...?
The year has passed both quickly and slowly
and certainly not without its challenges. The
coronavirus is still on everyone’s mind, as is the
state of the jewelry industry. It has also been
a year of change in the lab-grown sector and
we here at Lab Grown Magazine have tried to
bring you the latest in these changes.
This includes our monthly feature, The Global
Diamond Forum, which has taken, and continues
to take, a neutral albeit hard look at both
sides of the “Diamond Debate” offering varying
opinions on the issues facing lab-grown vs
mined diamonds.
In this last issue of 2020, Dan Scott presents
a special and other worldly look at diamonds
from outer space with his informative
and newsy article on how these diamonds are
reaching the Earth and how some of the gems
are created when meteorites and comets collide
with our planet. He also discusses the original
and reaching-for-the-sky approach by one of
the most innovative thinkers in the diamond
domain. A very interesting read.
Back here on Earth, lab-grown diamonds
continue to be increasingly accepted by retailers
and consumers. Even fairs are getting into
the lab-grown spirit. The diamond manufacturing
capital of India, Surat will now feature
lab-grown diamonds in its annual fair, Sparkle
2020. India’s exports of LGDs increased 21%
to $200M from April to September 2020,
compared to the same period in 2019.
LGDs have even had webinars devoted to
them, and a recent one, sponsored by GCAL
and hosted by Dusan Simic and Branko Deljanin,
authors of the book “Laboratory Grown
Diamonds – Information Guide to HPHT and
CVD Grown Diamonds, revealed the following:
– One carat is the most popular size.
– Rounds are the most popular shape.
– The clarity sweet spot is VS1-SI1.
– More than 45% of independents sell LGDs.
– As prices decline, colored LGDs increase.
We will talk more about these obervations and
more in Lab Grown Magazine in the New Year.
In the meantime, we extend our very best
wishes to all for a wonderful and safe holiday
season and a very Happy New Year!!
Zev
Cosmic Carats
By Dan Scott
Diamonds falling from the sky is as romantic as it is scientific. Certain comets,
asteroids and meteorites contain diamonds, while others create them from
Earthly explosive impacts. Still, some aren’t waiting for the next collision to
cash out. Sky mining is the new now.
Before we head for the heavens in this
special sky-high diamond story, let’s
take a moment to celebrate that we’re
still standing strong on good ‘ole terra firma.
We’re survived a year of chaos with optimists
noting a light at the end of the tunnel.
Others warn that the light is an oncoming
train. To those, I offer the safe avoidance of
standing on train tracks. We have too many
positive possibilities awaiting us in the new
year; unexpected eye-opening moments
changing “impossible” to “I’m possible.”
That’s the kind of positive thinking embodying
the likes of Elon Musk, who recently
announced he will be mining for gold…
in space.
By 2022, Musk and NASA will explore
a golden asteroid named 16 Psyche, packed
with precious metal worth trillions of dollars.
But 2022 won’t lead to a global precious
metal commodity collapse—SpaceX plans
to align to this precious asteroid although
extracting its gold and returning to Earth
isn’t even in Musk’s orbit of sight. That noted,
sky mining is as real as diamonds from space.
The article below shows that truth is indeed
stranger than fiction.
The Sky’s the Limit
Sky mining isn’t just what the name implies—
the term also speaks to reversing the global
carbon flow, physically removing and sequestering
atmospheric carbon to create profitable,
eco-friendly fuel, and more. This process
liquifies, purifies, and when mixed with
hydrogen, splits molecules of rainwater into
methane.
But isn’t methane the cancer of our cosmos?
Yes, which is precisely why this refined
methane is inserted into a mill, where balls
of plasma spin around at about 8,000°C or
14,432°F via chemical vapor deposition. The
result is the world’s first zero-impact diamonds,
according to environmentalist, multimillionaire,
and “I’m possible” guy, Dale
Vince. Vince is helping to clean the air by
removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
while geo-engineering diamonds.
This UK-based new-age diamond executive
claims traditional diamond mining displaces
approximately 1,000 tons of rock and soil for
each carat of diamond that is unearthed—
the weight of about 625 cars. Allegedly, the
same natural diamond carat mining process
creates 108.5 kg (239 lbs) of atmosphere
eating CO2 emissions. Each extracted carat
is estimated to require 1,028 gallons of water,
which is enough to make 14,000 cups of tea.
Yet, people weren’t quick to raise a glass to
Vince’s vision, not until they were reminded
in horrific visual detail what most media outlets
refuse to report.
In some cases, deep in the artisanal diamond
mines of Liberia, Zimbabwe and parts
of India, children as young as six are diamond-
mining slaves.
Pockets of profit
aren’t going to these
indigenous people,
and these extremely
unsafe mines remain
in regions as rotten as
the owners who run
them. Inhumane acts
that many people
thought were buried in the past are still alive
but not so well.
Thus, this made Vince look toward the
skies. His upward gaze resulted in Sky Diamonds,
a revolutionary, eco-friendly CVD
diamond company—a man-made diamond
company that removes clouds of doubt while
removing clouds of carbon.
How does Sky Diamonds power its operation?
All energy is derived from wind and sun with
the water required coming from captured
rain. What Sky Diamonds takes from the
atmosphere it replaces with clean air. That’s
refreshingly innovative.
“Hundreds of millions of marketing dollars
are spent every year to keep consumers
separated from the harsh and hurtful reality
of diamond mining. We no longer have to
dig for diamonds, we can mine them from
the sky,” stated the British businessman on a
recent European investor call. The conversation
theme: Natural carbon dioxide extraction
equals CVD diamonds and fresh air.
“Making diamonds from nothing more
than the sky, from
the air we breathe,
is a very magical,
evocative idea,” said
Vince in what most
would agree is a
well-deserved selfpat
on the back.
Sky Diamonds
is now producing
200 carats of the carbon-negative diamonds
each month. The UK facility plans to scale
up to 1,000 carats monthly within the next
year. Sky Diamonds’ market focus is on
Europe and Asia for now, but to Vince, the
sky’s the limit.
Earthly by Nature
Mainstream geologists have come to a
newfound realization, which has these scientists
brimming about a bevy of gem-quality
diamonds below our feet. Extremely deep below
our feet. “Some of the largest, most valuable
fancy diamonds remain in the deepest
portions of our underworld,” noted Margo
Regier, a globally celebrated Ph.D. student
with the Faculty of Science at the University of
Tokyo. “While we are not yet certain how
these ‘super-deep’ diamonds started to grow,
we do know that these colorful diamonds
crystallize from carbon-rich magmas, some
continuing to grow to colossal carat weights.”
Beyond gem-quality wearable art and lesser
quality rocks used for medical and industrial
applications, diamonds provide a unique window
into the Earth. Super-deep diamonds
allow scientists to examine the transport of
carbon through the mantle.
“The vast majority of Earth’s carbon is
stored in its silicate mantle, not in the atmosphere,”
Professor Alan Regier of Cleveland
State University explained. “If we want to
understand why our planet has evolved into
its habitable state today and how the surfaces
and atmospheres of other planets may
be shaped by their interior processes, we need
to better understand these variables. As we
dig, we better understand the Earth’s carbon
cycle. We must understand this vast reservoir
of carbon deep underground!”
While most agree we need more carbonbased
life lessons, that same group probably
acknowledges that we could be digging our
own grave to get there.
A Wild Comet’s Tale
Blustering beams of fiery rock and gas
known as comets played a significant role for
life on Earth. And certain comets contain
diamonds.
Small, now exploded planetary bodies
became comets, which formed the gassy,
giant planets in the outer solar system. Some
comets were catapulted into the inner solar
system bringing water and essential elements
to Earth. To the science-minded, life on
Earth may have never sparked without this
fiery cometary transport.
For the first time, scientists at the Space
Research Center at the University of
Leicester have samples of the diamond-clad
comet called Wild-2. In doing so, they’ve
discovered that the old comet model, identified
as a dusty ice space ball, is a mere culet in
ongoing natural diamond history.
Mexico’s Mighty Meteorite
The year: 1969. The location: Pueblo de
Allende, Chihuahua, Mexico. The find: Black
diamonds from the sky. While that description
is memorable, it’s incorrect. What was
discovered were indeed diamonds and the
space rock that housed them was black, but
that’s where the similarity ends.
The proper term for these valuable cosmic
treasures is chondrite. Carbonaceous chondrites
are dark gray, nearly black and found
as fragments of a long-debated source. Some
say chondrites broke free from exploding ancient
planets, while others think they were
formed from millions of years of layered solar
pollution.
Whichever theory you may subscribe to,
we need to correct the previous data. The first
documented discovery of carbonaceous chondrites
was in 1910 from a meteorite crashing
in Vigarano, Italy. We just didn’t have the
media resources to telegraph the news to the
world at that time. Regardless, Mexico deserved
the headlines. The now known Allende
meteorite crammed thousands of tiny, specialized
carbon grains into its fragments. Those
grains converted into nano-diamonds. These
micro diamonds are older than the solar system,
and today, astronomers aspire they were
produced by an ancient supernova.
Black Diamonds
Carbonado, also known as black diamond,
is one of the densest and hardest forms of
natural diamond. Known as an impure polycrystalline
form, they are found in alluvial
mines in Brazil and Central Africa. Created
by an exploding star before the formation
of our solar system, these pricey stones were
delivered to Earth by an asteroid over two billion
years ago. The diamonds encased within
are only suitable for industrial use. To date,
23 pounds of over 600 fragments have been
documented. Many have found their way to
eBay where bids can exceed US$600,000.
Pebble Diamonds
Meteors are instantly renamed meteorites
when they soar through our atmosphere and
crash land on Earth. The largest meteorites
leave their mark as enormous gullies in the
ground called impact craters.
The best-preserved impact crater is Barringer
Meteor Crater near Winslow, Arizona.
There, more than 50,000 years ago, a meteorite
weighing about 270,000 metric tons
(300,000 tons) slammed into Earth with the
power of 2.5 million tons of TNT.
The impact blasted a hole 1000 meters
(3,281 feet) wide and about 230 meters (750
feet) deep and left diamonds a plenty. Most
thought the forceful impact on carbon-fused
land made the tiny diamonds. That is until
modern day science stepped in.
Over a hundred impact craters have been
identified on Earth. The most famous perhaps
is the Chicxulub Crater, bringing us
back to Mexico. The Chicxulub crater is half submerged
in the Gulf of Mexico and is one
of the largest impact craters ever discovered.
Many scientists think this meteorite, which
measured roughly 10 kilometers (6 miles)
wide, triggered the extinction of the dinosaurs
(and most world life) around 65 million
years ago. It also seeded parts of Mexico with
tons of tiny diamonds disguised in scattered
black pebbles of space rock.
Collision Cash Out
This year, an Indonesian coffin maker
thought he might be at the end of his days
when he heard “screams from the sky.”
What he was about to see would defy all odds.
A softball-sized black rock burst through his
roof and hurtled into his bedroom. Steaming
with heat and smelling of sulfur, the space
stone rolled right up to him.
The 2.1-kg rock is estimated to be 4.5 billion
years old. It
is classified as a
CM1/2 carbonaceous
chondrite, an
extremely rare type.
Minutes after posting
a picture on his
personal Facebook page, the young casket
creator knew he could throw away his hammer.
His newfound gift from God was valued
at US$1.3 million.
After verifying the photo, Jared Collins, a
U.S. meteorite expert recalls that his associates
were “Lighting up my phone with crazy
offers for me to jump on a plane and buy
this fricking meteorite.” In the midst of the
Covid crisis, though, he had two choices:
“Buy the rock for myself and resell it or work
with fellow collectors and break it up.”
Collins ended up carrying a suitcase of cash
from Indianapolis to Indonesia to find the
owner. The meteorite was sold and shipped
to the U.S. for an undisclosed price, reportedly
purchased by a fellow meteorite collector
in the USA.
A Russian Secret: Trillions of Carats
The massive Popigai crater in Russia was
formed about 35 million years ago by an
asteroid whose impact was over 26,000 feet
wide. Its collision created a wealth of impact
diamonds when an existing diamond seam
was hit by this space gem of a rock. Experts
estimate that this diamond discovery could
supply the natural diamond market worldwide
for the next 3,000 years.
But which diamond market? Gem-quality
and industrial grade diamonds are as different
as night and day. Nikolai Pokhilenko, director
of the Novosibirsk Institute of Geology
and Mineralogy, stated that these diamonds
are “twice as hard as normal diamonds,” making
them ideal for industrial use. He claimed
that the Russian-owned Popigai crater is
ten times the size of the rest of the world’s
reserves, thus holding trillions of carats.
Discovered in a scientific expedition in the
1970s, the Government of the Soviet Union
decided to keep their find a secret so as not
to disturb world markets. Surely, they also
intended to not lower the value of their already-
profitable Mirny diamond mine that,
at its peak, was producing ten million carats
of diamonds every year.
The mine is now closed due to falling yields,
although the enormous cavern remains. This
area is the second-largest excavated hole in
the world. It is so large that small planes and
helicopters are forbidden from flying over it
because downward air flows can spiral them
into a deadly destination.
Desert Diamonds
A team of scientists found the first-ever
definitive evidence of a comet striking Earth.
After a series of analyses, researchers discovered
more than just a shooting star. Buried
deep in the stone, named Hypatia in honor of
the ancient female astronomer and philosopher
Hypatia of Alexandria, the comet was
studded with diamonds. Crash course comets
are rare. This one was rarer still.
“Of course, diamonds are produced from
carbon-bearing material,” commented Linda
Kramers, lead curator at the Cairo Museum.
“This specific ‘diamond comet’ flew over
Egypt about 28 million years ago. It exploded
in the atmosphere, heating the ancient sand
to 3,630°F and generated thousands of miles
of yellow silica glass and tiny diamonds across
the Sahara Desert.”
Evidence of this is in yellow silica glass
from the Pleistocene era, which was used in
jewelry created for Tutankhamen, the boyking
of Egypt. An example was a carved
semi-transparent yellow scarab in the center
of the legendary royal brooch found in Tutankhamen’s
tomb. It long held a mystery as to
the origin of the glass. Until now.
“Comets often visit our skies, but never
before has any material from a comet been
found on Earth,” noted Professor David
Block of Wits University. “Perhaps all comets
have silicon yellow glass or diamonds, we
just don’t know.”
The sands of time reveal other grainy diamond
discoveries. A Saudi Arabian governmental
group recently found a large meteorite
encased with millions of gem-quality diamond
carats baked into its structure. According
to the scientists involved, the large size
of diamond deposits formed inside the lumps
of rock had a curious core… like a planet. If
they are right, these diamonds came from an
ancient planet that must have existed when
our solar system was in formation. The reason
this news is so surprising is that it adds
to a heated global debate on the birth of the
universe.
Not to be outshined, another asteroid nearly
slammed into the Nubian desert of northern
Sudan. On 7 October 2008, the TC3
diamond-infused meteorite exploded just
above ground in a dazzling display of diamond
and mineral fireworks.
Starry, Starry Night
When seeking space objects that have
monetary value, staying cool is inherently
meaningful. In fact, the cooler the better.
Dead stars aren’t bright; they’re dim. They
aren’t hot; they’re as cold as they come. These
are white dwarf stars and, even though burning
at 4,892°F, that is still 5,000 times cooler
than the center of our Earth’s sun.
Astronomers have theorized that dwarf stars
lurk throughout the universe, even though
they are quite difficult to detect because they
are so faint. Faint, yes; undetectable, no.
Scientists have now identified what
may be the coolest white dwarf ever discovered.
This stellar corpse is so cool, its
carbon has crystallized, effectively forming
a diamond the size of the Earth.
“This is really remarkable!” stated David
Kaplan, a professor at the University of
Wisconsin Milwaukee, part of an audience
of millions listening to the now historic
National Astronomy Observatory podcast.
And if diamonds the size of the Earth can
be formed from dying stars, maybe one day
we might discover a diamond planet. Well,
that day came. It was August 30, 2004.
The Diamond Planet: 55 Cancri e
The diamond planet exists and is also known
as Janssen, or to the deep-science community:
55 Cancri e. (That’s right, with a space before
the final e.) Whatever you call it, this is one
scalding hot topic.
The planet’s surface is molten and mirrors a
burning horizon. Soaring around the sun-like
orb are silicates (atoms of silicon and oxygen
with potassium, sodium, or calcium) that
condense into tiny, shiny particles making
this planet’s sky sparkle.
But the real bright spot on this 3,900°F
exoplanet lies below its bubbling crust. There
you’ll find pure, solid, white, Type IIa diamonds.
Eons from now, the entire planet may
be solid diamond. But for now, we’ll have to
settle for about one-third of this cosmic mass
offering miles of deep, pure, glistening—but
utterly untouchable—diamonds.
Discovered in 2004, the 55 Cancri e has yet
another name—Super Earth. An odd term
for any exoplanet that is double the size and
mass of Earth with no other worldly association.
It has no water and is 40 to 41 light
years from Earth. So, until we create a means
to travel faster than the speed of light and
invent space machinery that won’t melt, the
diamonds in this sky will remain there.
Mine Your Own Diamond
Carbon trapped deep in the upper mantle
during our own planet’s formation met with
molten fluids. Millennium upon millennium
of slow, pressurized momentum eventually
erupts onto the Earth’s surface. This force
pushes past the trapped carbon, forging it
into diamond as the magma makes its way
to ground level. The diamonds are left in
Kimberlite conduits that can extend downward
for miles. This type of diamond creation
is the most common Earthly method, but it
hasn’t occurred for the past 400 million years.
That doesn’t mean diamonds can’t be found
on, or slightly below, the ground we walk on.
At least if that ground happens to be in a
part of Arkansas. During the current Covid
situation, the state limits visits to its Crater
of Diamonds State Park to 1,500 people per
day. And, people are still finding diamonds.
Perhaps someone should notify the Natural
Diamond Council so that they may reconsider
their “extremely rare” natural white diamond
campaign.
I would like to extend my gratitude to
everyone who has been, and continues to
be, so supportive of this diamond discussion
adventure in Lab Grown Magazine. Your
emails and phone calls are part of the light at
the end of the tunnel. If that light turns out
to be a train, then, all aboard!
The happiest of holidays to you and yours
and may peace and good health surround you
in 2021.
Dan Scott is a brand architect and founder of
Luxe Licensing, a New York Metro-based brand
and marketing agency catering to luxury and
demi-fine properties. Past and current clients include
Chanel, Gucci jewelry, JCKVirtual, St. Laurent,
Harry Winston and up-and-coming brands.
Dan welcomes conversation and may be reached
at +1.201.294.3697, dans@luxelicensing.com or
through www.LuxeLicensing.com ■
