Super flawless diamonds now made by machines. Are DeBeers days numbered?

**Matt** · August 18th, 2003, 05:03 PM

Super flawless diamonds now made by machines
WND | 08/18/03 | Staff Writer

Setback for jewel industry is good news for high-tech

Two companies are manufacturing gem-quality diamonds that may break the DeBeers cartel and set off a high-tech craze for diamond chips much heartier than silicon, reports Wired Magazine's September issue.

The diamonds are flawless and can fool even the most expert of gemologists.

The natural conditions that produce diamonds have long been understood &#8211; put pure carbon under enough heat and pressure and it will crystallize into the hardest material known. But evolutionists have suggested it would require millions of years to reproduce the precise set of circumstances. Some have suggested the earth's diamonds were produced deep in the planet's mantle some 3.3 billion years ago.

While replicating the conditions in a lab isn't easy, many have tried. Since the mid-19th century, Wired reports, dozens of these modern alchemists have been injured in accidents and explosions while attempting to manufacture diamonds. Starting in the 1950s, engineers managed to produce tiny crystals for industrial purposes &#8211; to coat saws, drill bits and grinding wheels.

"But this summer, the first wave of gem-quality manufactured diamonds began to hit the market," the magazine reports. "They are grown in a warehouse in Florida by a roomful of Russian-designed machines spitting out 3-carat roughs 24 hours a day, seven days a week. A second company, in Boston, has perfected a completely different process for making near-flawless diamonds and plans to begin marketing them by year's end. This sudden arrival of mass-produced gems threatens to alter the public's perception of diamonds &#8211; and to transform the $7 billion industry. More intriguing, it opens the door to the development of diamond-based semiconductors."

Diamond is not only the hardest substance known, it also has the highest thermal conductivity.

"Today's speedy microprocessors run hot &#8211; at upwards of 200 degrees Fahrenheit," says the report. "In fact, they can't go much faster without failing. Diamond microchips, on the other hand, could handle much higher temperatures, allowing them to run at speeds that would liquefy ordinary silicon. But manufacturers have been loath even to consider using the precious material, because it has never been possible to produce large diamond wafers affordably. With the arrival of Gemesis, the Florida-based company, and Apollo Diamond, in Boston, that is changing. Both startups plan to use the diamond jewelry business to finance their attempt to reshape the semiconducting world."

The sudden appearance of multi-carat, gem-quality synthetics has sent the DeBeers diamond cartel scrambling. Several years ago, it set up what it calls the Gem Defensive Program &#8211; a campaign to warn jewelers and the public about the arrival of manufactured diamonds. At no charge, the company is supplying gem labs with sophisticated machines designed to help distinguish man-made from mined stones.

"I was in combat in Korea and 'Nam," says Gemesis founder Carter Clarke. "You better believe that I can handle the diamond business." His company has 27 diamond-making machines up and running &#8211; with 250 planned &#8211; at his factory outside Sarasota, Fla.

**Smackie** · August 18th, 2003, 05:13 PM

Fuuuuuuuuuuuck DeBeers.

SRT Mike · August 18th, 2003, 05:20 PM

DeBeers has almost a complete lock on the world diamond market. The prices you pay for diamonds are almost totally set by DeBeers.

They are not taking this lying down. First, you CAN detect a fake diamond through some sort of chromographic process (been a while since I looked into it - dont recall the specifics). DeBeers has been heavily marketing these as inferior quality - which is not true. Furthermore, DeBeers has been doing things like their "Hearts and Arrows" and laser etched serial numbers on "DeBeers approved quality" diamonds.

Whether it will work or not remains to be seen. Several companies have been making synthetic diamonds for a while - it's not a new thing. The trick is doing it for anywhere close to a reasonable price.

**Smackie** · August 18th, 2003, 05:33 PM

Yah, but these aren't synthetic, Mike. The Russians finally have their system using nothing more than carbon, heat, and pressure.

Fuuuuuuuuuck DeBeers. Tiffany's needs a reality check, too. I'm bitter.

**Biggest** · August 18th, 2003, 05:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smackie

Yah, but these aren't synthetic, Mike. The Russians finally have their system using nothing more than carbon, heat, and pressure.

Fuuuuuuuuuck DeBeers. Tiffany's needs a reality check, too. I'm bitter.

What's wrong, already feeling the pinch of the Samckie Girl?? [img]/images/graemlins/laughing.gif[/img] Don't worry, it gets worse... [img]/images/graemlins/angry.gif[/img]

**Smackie** · August 18th, 2003, 05:41 PM

Nah, Smackie Gal is money. I just get tired of the brainwashed culture around her and every sensible gal her age.

BigCarrot · August 18th, 2003, 05:43 PM

DeBeers does set the market. They have stockpiles of diamonds that they don't release because the prices would fall, face first! Don't we call this a monopoly?

**packetjunkie** · August 18th, 2003, 05:46 PM

Dont forget insurance. I didnt buy the biggest diamond I could afford - I bought the best color/clarity I could get for my money. Ended up with near flawless D color 3/4 carat. People remark how it still looks new, yet its 10 years old.

**Biggest** · August 18th, 2003, 05:50 PM

[img]/images/graemlins/laughing.gif[/img] How can a 30 million year old rock look aged in 10 years? [img]/images/graemlins/laughing.gif[/img] maybe the setting would look beat up or dated, but the rock should never change unless it was fake. Did I miss something? [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

**SeriousEric** · August 18th, 2003, 05:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigCarrot

DeBeers does set the market. They have stockpiles of diamonds that they don't release because the prices would fall, face first! Don't we call this a monopoly?

Yup. Diamonds are only valuable because they say so. Many many other gemstones (sapphires, emeralds etc) are rarer. We've (women really) all been programmed by the industry to think diamonds have some rare intrinsic value. What crap.

**samehereasthere** · August 18th, 2003, 06:00 PM

These stories don't bother me at all. I buy all my diamonds from a guy that sells out of the trunk of his car at the corner of Elm and Akard in Downtown Dallas...but his name isn't DeBeers...I think it's Rocko something.
I'll bet Rocko is on top of this deal.

Clark

SRT Mike · August 18th, 2003, 06:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smackie

Yah, but these aren't synthetic, Mike. The Russians finally have their system using nothing more than carbon, heat, and pressure.

Fuuuuuuuuuck DeBeers. Tiffany's needs a reality check, too. I'm bitter.

I used the wrong term - I watched a show on the Discovery channel about the Russians making synthetic diamonds, but actually a guy I am internet-buddies with and has a PhD in physics is the lead researcher at the company that is making these (pure carbon + pressure + trace elements to pick your color) diamonds.

The problem all along was making 'em for a reasonable price - he said they have been able to make 'em for a while, but the process to make them cheap was the trick.

This guy is a REAL smart dude too - I'm glad it's working out!

Nameless · August 18th, 2003, 09:43 PM

Emeralds are much more rare than diamonds.

Fuck debeers. They concrete mines all the time to control the market. Yet, we go after Microsoft instead... go figure.

MM

**SeriousEric** · August 18th, 2003, 09:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SRT Mike

I used the wrong term - I watched a show on the Discovery channel about the Russians making synthetic diamonds, but actually a guy I am internet-buddies with and has a PhD in physics is the lead researcher at the company that is making these (pure carbon + pressure + trace elements to pick your color) diamonds.

The problem all along was making 'em for a reasonable price - he said they have been able to make 'em for a while, but the process to make them cheap was the trick.

This guy is a REAL smart dude too - I'm glad it's working out!

He will be killed by South Africans soon. Take out a big policy on him and make yourself the beneficiary.

**Hog Whisperer** · August 18th, 2003, 10:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Biggest

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smackie

Yah, but these aren't synthetic, Mike. The Russians finally have their system using nothing more than carbon, heat, and pressure.

Fuuuuuuuuuck DeBeers. Tiffany's needs a reality check, too. I'm bitter.

What's wrong, already feeling the pinch of the Samckie Girl?? [img]/images/graemlins/laughing.gif[/img] Don't worry, it gets worse... [img]/images/graemlins/angry.gif[/img]

That's exactly what I was thinking, Biggs. [img]/images/graemlins/laughing.gif[/img]

**Hog Whisperer** · August 18th, 2003, 10:54 PM

I'm wondering how this helps high tech? Diamond material instead of silicon? Wazzup widat?

**Minivan Man** · August 18th, 2003, 10:58 PM

I guess it would make hi-tech a girl's best friend.

So, what is the real scoop. What does a 2-3 carat synthetic diamond sell for? Can one buy stock in these companies? What are their names?

I have almost convinced Liz that we should sell hers if the market will crash in the next year or two. I'm sentimental like that.

BigCarrot · August 18th, 2003, 11:08 PM

Maybe these will start rolling off the assembly line about the time I decide to tie a broad to my ankle!