For educational purposes, Apollo Diamond, one of the labs that that uses single-crystal growth, was bought out by Scio Diamond (ticker: SCIO ) a few months ago.
The company issued a press release:
NOV 2011
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/scio-diamond-has-the-technology-to-cultivate-an-infinite-supply-of-diamond-to-assist-in-meeting-global-demand-133872038.html
Scio Diamond has proven technology whereby they can control the growth of diamond in a lab environment with proprietary equipment and technology.
Just as “cultured pearls” have become an excepted commodity, cultivated diamonds have now gained acceptance to the gemstone market.
Scio Diamond has already begun negotiations with large wholesale gemstone dealers worldwide. Agreements are imminent, and are focused on taking all of the future gemstone production for multiple years. Large global distributors as well as exclusive retail branded gemstones are slated for delivery in 2012 .
Scio is about to commercialize its quality stones by delivering thousands of carats per year with its market changing technology. Gemstones will be available in a variety of colors such as pinks, yellows, blues, and blacks to name a few.
The diamonds have the identical chemical, physical and optical properties as any diamond found in the earth, and the company’s highly controlled manufacturing process enables it to produce very high-quality, high-purity, high volume, single-crystal colorless, near colorless and fancy colored diamonds.
Scio’s technology permits it to produce lab-grown diamond in size, color, and quality combinations that are rare, if at all present in nature.
Any colored diamond (think: pink) is nearly 8X the value of the same quality colorless diamond. The company can produce any color combinations. Can you imagine how cultured diamonds will change the entire industry?
I spoke to my father (as i mentioned: a jeweler ) and he thinks once these start going mass production, the whole aura of diamonds (which let’s admit is anything but rational) will dissipate and fizz out. Ladies may still want a shiny rock, but imagine that rock costs $3,000 when it used to be $20,000.
I should just buy this company’s stock instead of going about it on my own, which will prob take too long