Inside remarkable lab where diamonds are grown

Every winter, thousands of people rush to the jewellery store, pick out the perfect diamond ring and ask their partner to spend the rest of their life with them.

And the best day of the year to propose was Christmas Eve, a landmark survey of 10,000 Britons found.

Many of those proposals, lasting just moments, are millions of years in the making. The flawless diamonds sitting atop those silver bands were once lumps of coal buried deep underneath the earth's crust, where they were crushed and heated into rough stones.

But an ever increasing number of those precious gems are, remarkably, younger than the relationships they were bought to celebrate.

A number of companies are now growing man made diamonds, chemically identical to natural ones, in a matter of weeks inside special labs.

More than 60 years after diamonds were first created synthetically in the 1950s, the industry is now worth around £10billion, according to forecaster Transparency Market Research.

It predicts the market will grow to a around £19billion by 2023, but some fear the cheaper product poses a grave threat to the natural diamond industry.

This astonishing rise is, in part, down to technological advances and a growing demand for man made diamonds which cost far less than natural ones.

Diamonds manufactured and sold by Washington Diamonds Corporation (WDC), which has perfected the process over fifty years, cost 'up to 50 per cent' cheaper than mined ones of 'equal quality'.

WDC uses a common process known as Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD), where a tiny diamond 'seed' is grown, layer by layer, inside a sealed gas chamber filled with methane and hydrogen.

The carbon atoms from the methane gas attach to the surface of the diamond in a precise 'lattice' structure, which gives the finished stone its strength and unequalled shine.

The process is continued until the rough diamond is big enough to contain a perfect stone. 

This “takes millions of years in the core of the earth but our process allows the smallest seed to grow over ten times its original size in a matter of weeks,” a WDC spokesman told MailOnline.
Once fully grown, the diamond is cut into its final, recognisable shape using a laser guided sawing machine and polished.

All WDC diamonds are laser inscribed with the words 'Laboratory Grown in the USA' and given a unique certificate.

WDC's spokesman added: 'The process of growing diamonds do not run the risk of damaging our fragile environment through the mining process, nor do we need to worry about conflicts with human rights abuses.'

“All our diamonds are from a single good one that we took from a mine. We used it one time and now we grow everything else from that.

The “diamond seed” used to create the rough stone was mined, and while no stone from a mine can be absolutely assured to be conflict free, WDC spokesman Clive Hill said it stones were sourced ethically.

He added: “Lab grown diamonds are conflict free and not associated with any of the impact of mining which is impossible to guarantee for a mined diamond.”

Despite the cheaper price tag and a promise that no blood has been spilled to create the diamond, man made stones represent 'one or two per cent of the industry', according to Johanna O'Brien, the owner of UK based Deluxe Diamonds.

She also claimed the price of natural diamonds will continue to rise due to the depletion of 'natural resources' and this will price lower and middle class people out of the market.


Around 360,000 carats of man made diamonds were produced last year, compared with 126million carats of natural diamonds.

WDC spokesman Clive Hill added: 'Our customers tell us that a man will never choose an engagement ring which is lab-grown without the fiancé being present, but if they are together often the man appreciates the more competitive pricing and the lady appreciates having a more impressive stone.”

Many are now rushing to invest in synthetic diamond companies, including Leonardo DiCaprio who was nominated for an Oscar for his performance as a diamond smuggler in Blood Diamond.


The 41-year-old actor invested in 'eco friendly' company, Diamond Foundry, which has raised more than £67million since its launch last month.

Synthetic diamonds also pose a serious threat to the industry because they can be mixed with the more expensive natural ones and sold at a higher price.

At the first Diamond Detection Expo and Symposium, held in Mumbai, India, this month, experts spoke of the importance of safeguarding the market 'against any undisclosed mixing of synthetics”.

Businesses are now setting up 'detection machines' to make sure they are not being duped, said Bharat Diamond Bourse.

The Expo concluded that the most effective way to deal with the 'illicit mixing of synthetics with natural diamonds' was:

• To quickly develop low cost machines which all traders could use;

• Develop a system and maintain necessary documentation;

• Spread awareness about the issue and the urgency surrounding it as widely as possible.

More than 30 per cent of people asked said the best day to propose was Christmas Eve, according to a survey done by ChilliSauce, a company which creates bespoke stag and hen weekends.

Of the 10,000 people surveyed, 31 per cent said December 24 was the ideal day to propose, while 22 per cent said Valentines Day and 18 per cent said New Years Eve.