Lab-grown versus natural diamonds… 

Are synthetic diamonds real diamonds, and what do you need to know before making a purchase ? Yes, lab-grown diamonds, also known as synthetic diamonds or man-made diamonds, have identical chemical, physical and optical properties to their natural counterparts… with subtle differences!

Whereas, Natural diamonds, or mined diamonds, are extremely rare compared to other minerals, according to Geoscience Australia. They form at depths of 150 to 200 kilometres below the Earth’s surface where high temperatures and pressures allow them to crystallise.

And, while  most natural diamonds are between 1 and 3 billion years old , LGDs are grown with high-pressure, high-temperature (HPHT) methods and chemical vapour deposition (CVD)… NPHT mimics Earth’s conditions to create diamonds, and CVD grows them atom-by-atom in a vacuum chamber by exposing a diamond seed to carbon-rich gases.

Pricewise, lab-grown diamonds are 30-70 per cent cheaper than natural ones per carat, and the price of lab-grown diamonds are expected to drop further as production capacity increases ! Therefore, synthetic diamonds should not be considered investment stones, because consumers have  since lost considerable value.

So, the choice is yours…