of interest, their claims of 0 carbon footprint, two week turnover on inventory, cost same as mined diamonds. pretty slick, eh? i went to their website, you have to register to see pricing. meh...
Joined: Tue Jun 12, 2007 6:41 pm Posts: 5534 Location: Massachusetts, USA
How many KWH are used to run a plasma reactor, for how many hours? Are they all coming from solar, wind, hydro, or nuclear? How do they separate out the KiloWattHours from coal, gas, and oil?
"The bullshit is strong in this one, Luke."
A product should stand on its own merits, and their product is a good one. The ad copywriter should put the joint down.
Joined: Mon Aug 20, 2012 11:32 pm Posts: 1747 Location: Florida, United States
Gearloose wrote:
How many KWH are used to run a plasma reactor, for how many hours? Are they all coming from solar, wind, hydro, or nuclear? How do they separate out the KiloWattHours from coal, gas, and oil? "The bullshit is strong in this one, Luke." A product should stand on its own merits, and their product is a good one. The ad copywriter should put the joint down.
I have sold polishing systems to several cvd diamond operations and the power requirements would exclude solar panels. They are all hooked to the power grid because the business require reliability to fill orders and make a profit.
the article implies power sources are only solar and hydro. producing 1000 cts per month, with everything produced selling within two weeks. priced same as natural, certified by GIA. what they are certified as isn't clear to me. apparently profitable. their days, obviously numbered....
Joined: Wed Sep 02, 2015 10:52 pm Posts: 1131 Location: Central Queensland, Australia
I seem to recall a similar argument having been made for synthetic sapphires - they are more environmentally-friendly because no mining was involved.
I'm not an expert on the manufacturing process but I assume they require alumina from somewhere. I live in a town that is home to the final stage of the aluminium production chain before export - it starts with huge open-cut mines that dwarf sapphire mining by orders of magnitude. The bauxite is delivered here in huge bulk carriers running on fossil fuels, to a plant that renders it down using an unpleasant substance - sodium hydroxide - and then sends it by conveyor to a smelter across the river. The electricity for the smelter is supplied by the local coal-fired power station.
The Anakie field is one of the worlds major sapphire producing areas and all the holes ever dug on it would probably fit inside just one good-sized bauxite mine.
So I think the argument for synthetic gems being more environmentally-friendly than naturally mined ones is probably almost always spurious.
Joined: Mon Aug 20, 2012 11:32 pm Posts: 1747 Location: Florida, United States
micra wrote:
the article implies power sources are only solar and hydro. producing 1000 cts per month, with everything produced selling within two weeks. priced same as natural, certified by GIA. what they are certified as isn't clear to me. apparently profitable. their days, obviously numbered....
Weasel worded article is weasel worded. Solar? Bwahahaha! Hydro? They really have some exclusive wire connection to a hydroelectric plant? Let's follow the wires from their plant to the electric power source. I guess the principals found some gullible investors with money to burn.
Joined: Tue Jun 12, 2007 6:41 pm Posts: 5534 Location: Massachusetts, USA
So they are selling their lab diamond at parity with natural. As usual, the first entries make the money. -Until China decides to convert some of the free hydropower from the Three Gorges dam, 22.5 Gigawatts of it, into diamond.
In ten years there will be more people making lab diamond than there are in the Manhattan Phone Directory, so enjoy it while it lasts. Play with this stock, but don't hold it.
Joined: Mon Aug 20, 2012 11:32 pm Posts: 1747 Location: Florida, United States
How about Iceland as a venue for growing diamonds? All that cheap geothermal power controlled by the descendants of Vikings from western Norway who chose an island to inhabit where the North American and Eurasian plates diverge.
I guess they should have focused on lower power consumption than for producing natural stones instead of zero carbon footprint. Also the price for colorless consumer goods CVD and HPHT grown is already about 40% less than natural counterpart. I recently bought a cut (VG VG VG), G, Si1, lab grown CVD stone of 0.32 ct with IGI LG report, for €230.
For example the Diavik mine is comparatively very energy consuming in terms of energy input per produced carat.
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