Why laboratory diamonds?

Before knowing why Sibela Diamond uses laboratory diamonds, we must understand how they are created.

Diamonds are precious stones formed by carbon inside the Earth, specifically in its mantle. The diamond creation process is very long, millions of years, and specific pressure and temperature conditions must also be met for its formation, temperatures that can reach up to 1300º and pressures of up to 60 kBa, that is, 60 times more pressure than that which exists at the deepest point on Earth, the Mariana Trenches at about 10,000 meters deep. These conditions also exist at another curious point, the place where meteorites hit the Earth.

Once the diamond is formed in the mantle, it comes to the surface through lava flows, through volcanic craters, and when these cool, diamonds can be found.

And so, is it their complicated training that makes them so valuable?

Well the short answer is no, diamonds are very valuable not because of their complicated formation process, but because of their properties.

A diamond is a very special stone especially due to its very high hardness and thermal conductivity. It is the hardest material and has the highest thermal conductivity of all, and that is why it is used to cut or polish all types of elements. And although this is its most important property, when it comes to the fashion industry, the diamond is the most sought-after gem of all due to its great transparency and clear, colorless appearance. Very few impurities can affect it and that is why it has that characteristic transparent appearance.

With this, we can now enter the main topic of the article. Laboratory diamonds.

What are laboratory diamonds?

They are DIAMONDS that have been created by imitating the conditions of both pressure and temperature that occur in the Earth's mantle in a laboratory . If the formation process of a natural diamond takes millions of years, thanks to technological advances, in a laboratory we can accelerate this process to create that same diamond in approximately 60 days.

These diamonds , having been created with the same compound (carbon) and under the same conditions, obviously have all those properties that have been mentioned above and that make the diamond the most precious gem of all. Lab diamond is as hard as natural diamond , has the same thermal conductivity and has the same transparency as natural diamond.

Why laboratory diamonds?

Most diamond mines are located in Africa, the largest are in Botswana, South Africa or Angola among others. In these countries, the working conditions in the mines are not those found in first world countries. If mining in itself is already a risky sector in which miners constantly breathe in impurities and are subjected to harsh conditions, in third world countries these conditions are accentuated by the lack of technological advances. Furthermore, for the extraction of gems, numerous natural resources are contaminated and used.

At Sibela, and knowing that there is no difference between laboratory diamonds and those from mines, we choose to use diamonds created in laboratories and which have a much lower impact and are much more respectful of the environment and with the people dedicated to extracting this stone from the mines.