Lab-Grown & Mined

Lab-Grown & Mined

The same diamond, a different beginning.

Both are real diamonds: the same carbon, the same crystal, the same fire. What differs is how each comes to be, and what that asks of the earth. This is why every Diamos diamond is grown, never mined.

Identical, atom for atomEvery diamond IGI certifiedBegin reading

In one sentence

A lab-grown diamond is a diamond. It is simply one that did not have to be dug out of the earth.

  • The same diamondPure carbon, hardness 10, the same brilliance and fire, graded on the same scales.
  • A lighter footprintNo open pit, no cleared forest, a fraction of the water and almost no waste rock.
  • A clear conscienceA short, known journey from seed to setting, with no question over where it came from.
  • More for your loveThe same quality for a fraction of the price, or a finer, larger stone for the same spend.

For every carat, a grown diamond needs

1429×less land disturbed
5844×less mineral waste
7×less water

than a mined diamond of the same weight. See them drawn to scale

01 · Two ways to a diamond

The same fire, without the scar

A mined diamond begins with a hole in the earth. Ours begins with a seed, a sealed chamber and the sun. Draw the line across the plate to compare.

MinedFrom the ground
GrownBy Diamos

MinedForest cleared, earth terraced, rock hauled out to reach the kimberlite.

GrownA diamond seed, growing layer by layer in a sealed chamber, powered by the sun.

02 · The diamond itself

Identical, atom for atom

A lab-grown diamond is not a substitute, a simulant or an imitation. It is crystalline carbon, formed as every diamond forms: under immense heat and pressure, around a seed of diamond. Set one beside a mined stone of the same grade and there is nothing different to see, because there is nothing different.

Lab-grownMined
Pure carbon =Composition Pure carbon
The cubic diamond lattice =Crystal The cubic diamond lattice
10, the hardest natural material =Hardness 10, the hardest natural material
2.42 =Refractive index 2.42
0.044 =Dispersion, or fire 0.044
3.52 g/cm³ =Density 3.52 g/cm³
The highest of any gem =Thermal conductivity The highest of any gem
IGI and GIA, on the same 4Cs =Graded by IGI and GIA, on the same 4Cs

Not a simulant

Cubic zirconia and moissanite are different materials made to look like diamond. They differ in hardness, in how they bend light and in what they are made of. A lab-grown diamond differs in none of these.

Only a laboratory can tell

No jeweller can separate a fine lab-grown diamond from a mined one by eye or with a loupe. It takes specialist spectroscopic instruments that read faint traces of how the crystal grew, which is why every IGI report states the origin plainly.

Defined by what it is

In 2018 the US Federal Trade Commission removed the word "natural" from its definition of a diamond. A diamond is defined by what it is, not by where it was found.

03 · The journey

A hundred and fifty kilometres, or a few weeks

Scroll to follow a mined diamond up from the mantle, and then see how ours begins instead.

  1. I

    Deep in the mantle

    A mined diamond formed between one and three billion years ago, 150 to 200 kilometres beneath the surface, where heat and pressure crush carbon into crystal.

  2. II

    Carried up in fire

    Long ago, rare and violent volcanic eruptions carried a few diamonds towards the surface in columns of rock called kimberlite. Most were destroyed on the way; a few survived.

  3. III

    Dug back out

    To reach them, forest and soil are cleared and an open pit is blasted into the ground, often hundreds of metres deep, with heaps of waste rock around it. Then the rough begins a long journey through traders and cutters, often across several countries.

  4. IV

    Or grown, above ground

    A Diamos diamond starts as a thin seed of diamond in a sealed chamber. Carbon builds on it, layer by layer, in the conditions the earth uses, powered by the sun. In a few weeks it is a diamond: no pit, no clearing, nothing taken from the ground.

04 · The footprint

Per carat, made visible

Figures like "tonnes per carat" are hard to picture, so here they are drawn to scale, beside a person. Choose a carat weight.

The land

Mined
—

Grown
—

The rock

Mined
—

Grown
—

The water

Mined
—

Grown
—

Per-carat figures are industry estimates from Frost & Sullivan, Environmental Impact Analysis: Mined Diamonds vs. Lab-Grown Diamonds (2014). Rock is drawn at a typical density of 2.7 tonnes per cubic metre. The impact of any one mine varies with its location, depth and practices.

A rough diamond on rock

What mining asks of the earth

Beyond what can be measured per carat, a diamond mine changes a landscape, and the lives around it, for generations.

  1. I

    Land and habitat

    Open-pit diamond mines can reach well over a kilometre across and hundreds of metres deep. Forest, grassland and wildlife habitat are cleared for the pit, its roads and the waste heaps around it.

  2. II

    Water

    Processing ore draws large volumes of water, often from the rivers and groundwater that surrounding communities depend on. Run-off and tailings can carry sediment into streams and lakes.

  3. III

    Fuel and air

    Drilling, blasting and hauling run on diesel, often around the clock. Fleets of heavy trucks and crushers produce emissions and dust long before a single stone is recovered.

  4. IV

    Waste rock

    For every stone recovered, tonnes of crushed rock and tailings are left in heaps and ponds that must be managed long after the mine closes.

  5. V

    People

    Many diamonds are still dug by hand in small, informal mines, where workers can face unsafe conditions and low pay. In the worst cases, diamonds have funded conflict.

  6. VI

    A finite resource

    Mines are exhausted within decades, so new land must keep being opened to keep diamonds flowing. A grown diamond asks nothing more of the earth.

A lab-grown diamond on a stone pedestal

The honest footprint

Grown with the sun

Growing a diamond is not impact-free, and we would rather tell you so. Recreating the heat and pressure of the earth takes a great deal of electricity, so a grown diamond's footprint depends almost entirely on where that power comes from.

That is why it matters to us how ours are made. Diamos diamonds are grown using solar electricity. No pit is dug, no forest is cleared, nothing is taken from the ground, and the energy that grows the crystal comes from the sun.

The same brilliance. A far lighter touch on the earth.

05 · Provenance

A diamond you never have to wonder about

With a mined diamond, the honest answer to "where did this come from?" is often "somewhere, through several hands". With a grown diamond, the answer is simple and complete.

Mined
  1. Mine
  2. Sorting
  3. Rough dealer
  4. Trading hub
  5. Cutter
  6. Polished dealer
  7. Wholesaler
  8. Jeweller
Diamos
  1. Grower
  2. Cutter
  3. IGI
  4. Diamos

A typical journey, simplified. Mined rough is often mixed, traded and cut far from where it was found.

What the Kimberley Process covers

Since 2003 the Kimberley Process has certified shipments of rough diamonds as free of funding for rebel movements. It was an important step, but its definition is narrow: it does not cover working conditions, wages, safety, wider human rights or the environment.

A chain you can see

A grown diamond's journey is short and known: from the laboratory where it grew, to the cutter, to IGI, to our atelier. There is no point at which its origin is lost.

Written on the stone

Every Diamos diamond carries an independent IGI report stating that it is laboratory grown, and larger stones bear their report number laser-inscribed on the girdle. Nothing is left to trust.

06 · Purity

Often purer than the earth allows

Grown in a controlled chamber rather than in the chaos of the mantle, a lab-grown diamond can be cleaner and whiter than most diamonds ever taken from the ground.

Type IIa

The purest diamond type

Diamonds with almost no nitrogen are classed as Type IIa. Fewer than two in every hundred mined diamonds are Type IIa; most CVD-grown diamonds are. The Koh-i-Noor and the Cullinan are Type IIa.

D – F

Colourless, as standard

The colourless grades are a small fraction of mined supply and priced to match. Every Diamos centre stone is D, E or F, a standard few jewellers could offer in mined diamonds at any sensible price.

Fancy

Colours once kept for collectors

Natural pink, blue and vivid yellow diamonds are among the rarest gems on earth. Grown, they become something you can actually wear, with the same hardness and brilliance as any diamond.

07 · Value

More diamond, for the same love

A mined diamond's price carries the cost of finding it, digging it out and passing it through a long chain of traders. A grown diamond carries none of that. The diamond is the same; the price is a fraction.

What you do with the difference is yours to decide:

  • Go larger. Often two carats or more for what a single mined carat would cost.
  • Go finer. D to F colour and VVS to VS1 clarity, as standard, at every size.
  • Go further. A more elaborate design, a matching band, or earrings to go with it.

An honest word. Lab-grown diamond prices have come down as the technology has matured. Choose one for its beauty and what it means, rather than as a financial investment. That is why our lifetime exchange credits 80% of your diamond's current value and 100% of your gold's, for as long as you own the piece.

Our lifetime exchange

The same budget, illustrated

Mined1 ct
Lab-grown2 ct, finer grades

Drawn to their true relative size: a two-carat round is about a quarter wider than a one-carat. Actual prices vary with size and grade.

08 · History

Two centuries in the making

Lab-grown diamonds are not a trend. They are the result of more than two hundred years of science, and today they are how a new generation chooses its diamonds.

  1. 1797

    Diamond is carbon

    The English chemist Smithson Tennant burns a diamond and proves it is made of nothing but carbon. The question becomes how to make one.

  2. 1954

    The first grown diamond

    At General Electric's laboratory in New York, Tracy Hall grows a diamond using high pressure and high temperature, the method known today as HPHT.

  3. 1980s

    Growing from gas

    Scientists refine chemical vapour deposition, growing diamond layer by layer from carbon-rich gas. It becomes the route to the purest stones.

  4. 2002

    Diamos begins

    A New Delhi atelier working only in lab-grown stones: first sapphires, emeralds and rubies, then moissanite, then diamonds.

  5. 2000s

    Graded like any diamond

    The leading laboratories, IGI first among them, begin grading lab-grown diamonds on the same scales as mined stones.

  6. 2018

    A diamond is a diamond

    The US Federal Trade Commission drops "natural" from its definition of a diamond, recognising lab-grown stones as diamonds.

  7. 2023

    India invests

    The Government of India announces support for lab-grown diamond research and manufacturing in its national budget.

  8. Today

    The new standard

    Lab-grown diamonds have become one of the most popular choices for engagement rings, chosen for their beauty, their value and their lighter footprint.

A jeweller at work

Made in India

India, and the future of diamonds

India has cut and polished the world's diamonds for generations; the great majority still pass through the hands of craftsmen in Gujarat. Today India is also one of the world's leading growers of lab-grown diamonds.

We have been part of that story for more than a decade, among the first in India to offer lab-grown diamonds, after years with lab-grown gemstones and moissanite. Every Diamos piece is designed, set and finished in our atelier in Chittaranjan Park, New Delhi.

09 · Misconceptions

What people often ask us

"Lab-grown means fake."

In factIt is real diamond: the same carbon, structure and hardness. Fake diamonds, such as cubic zirconia, are entirely different materials.

"It won't sparkle like a real one."

In factSparkle comes from cut, not origin. With the same refractive index and dispersion, a well-cut lab-grown diamond is exactly as brilliant.

"It isn't properly certified."

In factLab-grown diamonds are graded by the same laboratories, IGI and GIA, on the same 4Cs. Every Diamos diamond has its IGI report.

"It will go cloudy or change colour."

In factDiamond is diamond. It is as permanent and stable as any mined stone, and will look the same in fifty years as it does today.

"A diamond should be rare to be precious."

In factWhat makes a diamond precious is what it means to you, and the beauty of the stone. Rarity once came at the earth's expense; it no longer has to.

"Experts can spot the difference."

In factNot by eye or under a loupe. It takes specialist laboratory instruments, which is why the report always states the origin.

10 · Our promise

How we do it at Diamos

Choosing lab-grown is the first step. These are the others we take, for every piece.

  • Grown with solar power

    Our diamonds are grown using solar electricity, so the energy that forms the crystal comes from the sun.

  • IGI certified, every stone

    Independently graded, with a report number you can verify yourself, and clearly identified as lab grown.

  • Chosen by hand

    Our gemmologists keep only stones from the strong end of each grade: D to F colour, VVS to VS1 clarity, Ideal or Excellent cut.

  • Recycled precious metals

    Wherever possible we use recycled gold, reducing the need for newly mined metal without compromising purity or strength.

  • Conscious packaging

    Designed with recyclable and responsibly sourced materials, to reduce waste while keeping the moment special.

  • A lifetime exchange

    100% of your gold's value and 80% of your diamonds' current value, credited towards a new piece, for as long as you own it.

11 · At a glance

Side by side

MinedGrown, by Diamos
The diamondPure carbon, hardness 10Pure carbon, hardness 10. Identical.
Brilliance and fireDepends on the cutDepends on the cut. Identical.
FormedOver 1 to 3 billion yearsIn a few weeks
OriginDug from an open pit or underground mineGrown from a diamond seed, above ground
LandAround 9 m² disturbed per caratNo pit, no clearing
Mineral wasteAround 2.6 tonnes per caratUnder half a kilogram
WaterAround 480 litres per caratAround 70 litres
EnergyDiesel-driven digging, hauling and crushingSolar electricity
ProvenanceOften unclear, through many handsKnown from seed to setting
CertificationIGI or GIA, as naturalIGI, clearly stated as lab grown
PurityType IIa: under 2% of stonesType IIa: most CVD stones
PriceCarries the cost of mining and tradingA fraction, for the same quality

Questions

Is a lab-grown diamond a real diamond?

Yes. It has the same chemical composition, crystal structure, hardness and optical properties as a mined diamond, and is graded by the same laboratories on the same scales.

Can anyone tell the difference?

Not by eye, and not with a jeweller's loupe. Only specialist laboratory instruments can identify a diamond's origin, which is why every IGI report states it clearly.

Why are lab-grown diamonds better for the environment?

No land is cleared or dug, almost no mineral waste is produced and far less water is used. The main footprint is electricity, which is why Diamos diamonds are grown using solar power.

Are lab-grown diamonds ethical?

Their journey is short and fully traceable, from a known laboratory to cutting, grading and setting, with none of the uncertainty that can surround a mined stone's origin.

Will a lab-grown diamond last?

For ever. It is diamond, the hardest natural material, and is as durable and permanent as any mined stone.

Why are they less expensive?

There is no exploration, no mine and no long trading chain to pay for. You pay for the diamond, its cutting and its craftsmanship.

Do lab-grown diamonds hold their value?

Prices for lab-grown diamonds have fallen as production has grown, so we recommend choosing for beauty rather than investment. Our lifetime exchange credits 80% of your diamond's current value against a new piece.

Does Diamos sell mined diamonds?

No. Every diamond we use is lab grown, IGI certified, and selected by our gemmologists to our own standard.