12 minute read
Diamonds are forever
Guilt-free gems
Lab grown diamonds are increasing in popularity, and not just among celebrities. National Organiser Natalie Punter explains some of the reasons these were chosen for our Diamond Draw.
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When we were setting up the Diamond Draw for our anniversary extension year, Diamonds are Forever, we knew that we wanted real diamonds as prizes, but we also knew that diamonds can be an ethical and moral minefield.
Did you know that it takes an average of nearly 100 square feet of land, and between 200 and 2,000 tons of earth and dirt, to mine one carat of diamond? Or that more than 100 gallons of water are used in the production of mined diamonds, as opposed to less than 20 gallons to create a carat of lab grown diamond?
When we look at a diamond, it can be hard to imagine that it began as a rough gem deep inside the earth. Most of us are so far-removed from what diamonds actually are that it’s difficult for us to wrap our minds around their origins. However, in order to begin to understand ethical issues surrounding diamonds, it’s important to first consider how they’re mined.
Diamonds are found in two places: deep under the earth’s surface in ancient kimberlite formations, extracted via pipe mining; and in riverbeds and the ocean floor, extracted via alluvial mining. Most are found in Africa, where they’re sourced both from deep-earth mines and alluvial beds – although some diamonds are mined in Canada and Russia. Each diamond takes millions of years to form and requires hugely extensive resources — both equipment and manpower — and time to discover.
Deep-earth mines are owned and operated by large corporations, the largest and probably most well-known of which is De Beers. Industrial mining companies also perform alluvial mining. However, a percentage of alluvial mining is performed by hand, a meticulous process, much like gold mining in the 19th and early 20th centuries. This is commonly referred to as artisanal mining and is done by individuals, mainly in African nations. It is estimated that around a million African artisanal miners earn less than $1 per day for this back breaking work.
The miners live in extreme poverty in communities that often lack running water and proper sanitation, and many of them are children as young as five years old. They work six to seven days a week and the work is completely unregulated, and therefore dangerous. Conditions are generally unsafe and unsanitary, with days spent digging in stagnant, dirty water that breeds insects and disease. Workers do not have proper tools, training, or safety equipment and accidents frequently cause injuries and death. Alluvial miners are also often subject to horrific human rights violations—with violence, torture, and rape being perpetrated by government militias and armed rebel groups seeking to capture and control mining areas. The process also wreaks environmental devastation across the land, rendering it unusable for farming or other uses. Estimates of how much of the world’s diamonds come from this background range from to 14 to 20 percent.
You will, I am sure, have heard the term ‘blood diamonds,’ also sometimes referred to as ‘conflict diamonds.’ These phrases come from the late 1990s and are used in connection with violent rebel groups that were taking over mining areas in Central and West Africa. Rebel groups used brutal, deadly force and, in some cases, systematic rape, to take over diamond areas. They would then illegally trade diamonds for weapons and money, which, in turn, fuelled additional violence and atrocities. These blood or conflict diamonds were exported to jewellery stores around the world.
In response, in 2003 a process called the Kimberley Process Certification System was established, to prevent conflict diamonds from entering the diamond supply chain. There is some debate about how well the Kimberley Process actually works but there is nonetheless reasonable confidence that diamonds sold through legitimate sources are not funding rebel-led civil wars, and they are therefore described as ‘conflict-free’ in some marketing materials. However, it is
Alluvial diamond miners in Kono District, Sierra Leone I lost my diamond engagement ring at an antenatal appointment. Searched everywhere. One year later, on holiday with our small son and looking for change for ice creams, I felt something in the corner of my purse. It was the diamond of my ring which had slipped through a tiny hole in the lining. Elaine Lane, Warwick and Leamington NWR
actually a very narrowly focused certification process, and it remains perfectly legal to sell diamonds tainted by violence, child labour, poverty, and environmental atrocities.
Unfortunately, the reality is also that diamonds are not traceable to their origins like fair trade bananas or organic apples. From mining to selling, diamonds pass through many hands and not all of them will be ethically minded. Unless the diamond you purchase is from a Canadian mine or is lab grown there is no guarantee of it having been ethically sourced.
Groups like the African artisanal miner advocacy group Diamond Development Initiative have been working to improve the lot of artisanal diamond miners. However, a representative of the DDI, Ian Smillie, explains that: ‘Most rough diamonds are sorted and mixed before they are cut and polished,’ even those from the most stringent De Beers-operated mines in Botswana. ‘Because most diamonds do not have traceable certificates of origin, it is impossible to say whether they come from artisanal sources or from large mining corporations… Some Canadian diamonds are branded as such and do come with chains of warranty. Most others lose their identity as they work their way through the diamond pipeline.’ You will also find that Russian mined diamonds are often labelled as conflict free despite human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch continuing to identify the country as increasingly oppressive.
So, the options seemed to be to buy either Canadian mined diamonds or lab grown diamonds. We, being lively minded and intrigued, went for the second option.
Lab grown diamonds are real diamonds but with the advantage that no people or natural resources are harmed throughout their supply chain. Since lab grown diamonds and geological diamonds are identical – both are diamonds with exactly the same characteristics – it is virtually impossible to detect the difference, even for an expert using a microscope. Only very expensive laboratory equipment like that used by a very few gemmological institutes can detect if a diamond is a created or a geological one.
The two most common ways to create gem quality diamonds are: High Pressure High Temperature process, or HPHT. This method imitates the way diamonds are formed in the depths of the earth. A tiny diamond crystal is put into a chamber with carbon in the form of graphite, and a metal catalyst. Under enormous pressure and very high temperature the metal catalyst dissolves the graphite, and the carbon atoms connect with the tiny diamond seed and grow into a bigger diamond. The diamond seed can be a lab grown or a geological diamond. Chemical Vapor Deposition, or CVD. In this process, a diamond seed in a form of a square is put into a reactor with a combination of gases. With the help of a microwave gun, the gases are heated until they become plasma, which is a state where the atoms are separated from one another. The free carbon atoms are then deposited onto the diamond seed, thus growing new layers of diamonds on top of the diamond seed. Again, the diamond seed can be lab grown or geological.
Lab grown diamonds are available in all the same colours and clarities as mined diamonds. In reality, it’s not possible to talk about the differences between lab grown and mined diamonds, because they are exactly the same atomically. They have exactly the same chemical and physical characteristics, and they are made of the same thing: crystallised carbon. Both rank at 10 on the Mohs mineral hardness scale, and they have the same specific gravity and the same thermal conductivity – diamonds are unusually good conductors of heat. Finally, they are both optically transparent, meaning they allow light to refract and pass through them, creating that sparkle for which they are famous and loved.
Having seen the diamond necklace and earrings which constitute two of the prizes for our diamond draw we can assure you that they are every bit as beautiful as mined diamonds, and we hope that the lucky winners will enjoy them, with a clear conscience, for many years to come!
Diamond Wedding
60 years ago, on the 9th of April 1961, I was married in my local church in Copenhagen. I was 21 and I went to live in England with my English husband. We had met in Heidelberg, the year before, on a student working camp holiday, consisting of young people from different parts of Europe. Now, four children, five grandchildren and two greatgrandchildren later, here we are sadly unable to celebrate our 60th anniversary with all our family and friends as we had hoped. However, undaunted, we fully intend to celebrate this very special day with a scaled down party together with many happy memories. Inge Grayson, Wimborne NWR
Photo: Mohtashim Mahin from Pixabay Below are some of the names of our Diamond Draw winners. Look out for more photographs of our lucky ticket holders in the next edition of the magazine. Rose gold diamond necklace: Barbara Evans, Waltham NWR Ethical diamond earrings: Carol Webb, Market Drayton NWR Dartington Crystal Dragonfly Vase from John Lewis: Pam Mundy, Galleywood NWR Diamond patterned recycled cotton teal throw from Oliver Bonas: Hilary Morgan, Plympton NWR Diamante gin glasses and Whitley Neill miniature gin selection: Moira Coats, Gloucester NWR Moon phase picture, above right: Gillian Clarke-Hill, Cheltenham & Charlton Kings NWR Photo frame, left: Sheila Knotts, Poynton 3 NWR Diamond Street: The Hidden World of Hatton Garden: Dorothy Daniels, Romily NWR Congratulations to all our winners!
The power of persuasion
A diamond is forever – but how did diamonds become the gem of choice for a lovelorn suitor? Judith Charlton looks at the origin of a familiar slogan.
Until the late 1800s diamonds were rare, affordable only for the hugely wealthy. Initially, India was thought to be the only place with major deposits, then, in 1725, small amounts were discovered in Brazil. But in 1866 things started to change, when 15-year-old Erasmus Jacobs found a 21.25 carat diamond – the Eureka Diamond – while exploring on the banks of the Orange River. More discoveries followed, resulting in the South Africa goldrush and, in 1871, the opening of the first large scale mining operation in the region, the Kimberly Mine.
As more and more diamonds flooded the market, their value dropped. Investors in the mines realised that, to maintain the price of diamonds, they had to perpetuate the notion of scarcity by controlling supply. So, in 1888, De Beers Consolidated Mines was created, under the control of Cecil Rhodes. Later on, in the 1920s, Ernest Oppenheimer became chairman, followed by his son Harry. De Beers soon The controversial statue of Cecil Rhodes owned the majority of on the façade of Oriel College, Oxford South Africa’s diamond mines – the name comes from one of the mines it bought out – and would buy up the entire supply of those that it didn’t own.
As well as the mines, De Beers owned and controlled most of the world’s diamond trading companies. From its inception to the start of the 21st century, it was a virtual monopoly, controlling 80% to 85% of the world’s rough diamond distribution.
In spite of this, diamond prices declined during the first part of the 20th century, and the company realised it had to take steps to control demand as well as supply, so in 1939 Harry Oppenheimer headed to New York to talk to advertising agency N W Ayer. At that time, around three quarters of De Beers’ diamonds were sold in America for engagement rings and, although these stones were smaller and of poorer quality than those bought in Europe, with war looming there seemed little point in endeavouring to expand that market.
The aim was to persuade the American public that the gift of a diamond was the only proper expression of love and romance, and the bigger and more expensive the jewel, the
Diamonds Are Forever
Well, mine very nearly wasn’t! Some time ago, when offering the postwoman a lift, as I opened the car door to let her in, I noticed a hole in my ring where my diamond solitaire should have been! I contacted my insurance company, only to find out that the diamond was a Victorian oval and that the policy cover would not extend to even a really cheap, industrial quality replacement. So, I cleaned and checked the car, emptied the vacuum cleaner, vacuumed the entire house and checked the contents, swept the drive – a small one, thank goodness! – and inspected all the little stones I swept up, but to no avail. Having searched high and low, I lodged a claim for the amount that was covered. Several weeks later, I was vacuuming the car again and, on the mat, this drab little grey stone turned over and blinked at me, just before it got sucked up! Unbelievably, I had found it. As it belonged to my great-grandmother, I was very happy to be able to reunite it with its setting, and it has stayed on my finger ever since. I will be FOREVER grateful to have found it. Pauline Rhodes, Chandlers Ford D NWR
greater the love. As well as an advertising campaign, stories and photos were offered to magazines and newspapers, focusing on the size and extravagance of the diamonds that celebrities presented to their loved ones.
Combined with the idea of a diamond as a symbol of everlasting love was the assumption that it would keep, or even increase, its value. These two ideas were captured perfectly when, in 1947, a copywriter at N W Ayer named Frances Gerety came up with the slogan ‘A Diamond is Forever’. A woman in a man’s world, Gerety had been taken on by the agency to work on women’s products and De Beers was her main account. The slogan was hugely successful and in 1999 was named as Slogan of the Century by Advertising Age, shortly before Gerety died at the age of 83, incidentally having never married.
The fact that Frances Gerety’s speciality was women’s products highlights a peculiarity – that this product is packaged to appeal to women in spite of the fact that they are rarely consulted in the purchase. If they were, it is quite possible that the spend would be less, but we have been cleverly persuaded that the event must be a surprise, leaving the purchaser vulnerable to the fear of not being perceived as sufficiently generous.
We have also been persuaded that the diamond is an asset but it is one that you are unlikely to realise, since, being bought retail, a large part of the price of an engagement ring is the mark up. But, who would want to sell – a diamond is forever, right?
