With most people aware of the fact that lab-grown diamonds are just as “real” as natural diamonds, many still have questions regarding the price of the diamond. Pricing is one of the make-it-or-break-it factors when it comes to choosing a diamond ring for someone. If a ring is way too expensive, people are obviously going to avoid even considering paying with their hard-earned cash.
The processes that are involved in order to obtain a natural diamond and a “synthetic” diamond are vastly different. For centuries, humans have found such wonder in the precious stone that is unbelievably rare to find. Diamonds are often quoted as being a “girl’s best friend” and are such a treasured and essential part of relationships and marriage.
Nowadays, we have the option to choose between a natural diamond that comes from the earth through organic processes or a lab-made diamond that uses scientific methods to create a diamond with machinery.
There are a variety of factors that come into play that make lab-grown diamonds a cheaper option. These include things like:
- The formation process of natural diamonds
- The limited supply of natural diamonds
- The costs of mining
- The costs of labour
- Cutting & Polishing
So are lab-grown diamonds cheaper than natural diamonds? Yes. Let’s take a look at why:
How Long Does It Take for a Diamond to Naturally Form?
For starters, lab-grown diamonds are “created” much faster than regular diamonds that are formed naturally within the earth – automatically resulting in lower costs.
A natural diamond takes literally billions of years to be formed. To be exact, between one billion to 3.3 billion years. To simplify the science, diamonds form when carbon deposits deep within the earth are subjected to extreme temperatures and pressures. Later on, it is then brought up to the surface level of the earth via volcanic processes like eruptions.
Diamonds are also so incredibly rare to find within the earth. Miners from all around the world are no strangers to extremely long journeys and processes, and when diamonds are discovered it is such a great feeling.
Natural diamonds are also more expensive because of the fact that they are technically a limited resource. There are only so many diamonds that we are able to extract from the ground, meaning that each time we do so there are going to be fewer and fewer. The limited supply can also mean that diamonds can be considered an investment.
This alone adds a lot more price to a natural diamond, with the whole concept that the stone is formed within the planet giving some sort of symbolic meaning to the gem.
Mining Natural Diamonds
Obtaining natural diamonds from deep within the earth is quite obviously going to require a lot more labour and machinery. Natural diamonds require lots of labourers to use mining equipment and massive machinery to dig up and look for the gem, whereas lab diamonds are made in the same lab with much fewer people involved in the process.
The process of mining diamonds is not as simple as you think. Mining sites first need to be properly decided upon, and this can take weeks or even months of preparation. Hundreds of people or even more get assigned to keep the place in check.
The cost of the machinery used when mining diamonds is huge not only because of the initial cost of purchasing, but also the amount of money it takes to run the machine. Gigantic trucks are used to transport the goods too.
Diamond mines can be either “open-cut” or underground. Ore gets blasted and then put onto the large trucks to be cleaned up and organised and processed.
Labour Costs
These large numbers of people can also be required to partake in manual labouring.
One of the notable costs is going to be human labour. Large amounts of miners employed by companies need to get paid to operate machinery, provide safety, sort through the ore and dirt matter, and so on. Some miners even work themselves in the mines, swinging a pickaxe like in old times. Although this is rare now, a few countries still operate like this.
Some employees are even required to travel overseas, which often gets covered by the employer.
Not only in the mining process but other processes like cutting and polishing also require more workers because of how raw the natural diamonds are when they are mined straight from the ground.
When lab diamonds are made, they require much fewer people in comparison to obtaining diamonds from underground. No more than 30 are required to create a lab diamond. The process is also much quicker, whereas miners often have to work at a mine for longer periods.
The cost of setting up the machinery in a laboratory is far less pricey than doing things the traditional way. In fact, it costs about one-third the amount of money to set up a lab diamond than setting up a mine.
Polishing & Cutting Diamonds
Because lab-grown diamonds are synthesised in a much more controlled environment as opposed to natural diamonds, the time and money needed to cut and polish the diamond are much less. When diamonds are created in a lab, everything is heavily monitored and controlled, making sure that nothing goes wrong and that everything is done in the most efficient way possible.
Simply, cutting and polishing lab diamonds requires less labour because there is less work needed.
When mining natural diamonds, you can come across ore in all different shapes and sizes. Although you may come across larger amounts of diamonds when doing things naturally, it can take a long time to separate all the unnecessary matter from the gem, and then have to get things to the right size.
Because of the large amounts of material extracted from natural mining, the costs of labour are way higher.
Summary
Both lab-made diamonds and natural diamonds come with their pros and cons, and both are equally great options to go for. If there is one thing that you can take away from natural vs synthetic, it is that the price difference is going to be noticeable.
Lab diamonds are around 30% to 50% cheaper than mined diamonds. To recap everything, this is because for a handful of reasons:
The formation process of natural diamonds takes a significantly longer amount of time in comparison to lab diamonds. It takes billions of years for deposits of carbon to transform into precious stones.
Not only that, natural diamonds are in limited supply since technically only a certain amount of them can be dug out of the ground, whereas lab diamonds can be created theoretically endlessly.
The costs of mining machinery are obviously going to be expensive, with large hauling trucks required and other techniques used to dig up chunks of the ground. Lab diamonds can be created in a much smaller space.
Labour costs are on the pricier side for natural diamonds, as more time and crew are required. Lab diamonds only need around 30 people.
And finally, the cutting and polishing of natural diamonds mean that it will take a significantly larger amount of time to deal with the large chunks of rock and ore since lab diamonds are created in a more controlled and monitored environment.
by Australian Diamond Brokers : August 22nd 2022 Come visit our store or browse our website to find out more.