A lot of jewelry collectors may be familiar with De Beers, as the primary mining giant in the world of natural diamonds. Last May, the company shocked the world with its announcement of a direct-to-consumer subsidiary called 'Lightbox', which would sell laboratory-grown diamonds to consumers. This controversial move by the natural diamond trade's number one supplier, added to the concern of traders and buyers alike.




Now, De Beers is said to be partnering with retailers like Bloomingdale's, in an initiative to finally have its lab-grown counterpart; Lightbox, participate in brick-and-mortar jewelry showcases. This new move also comes with some uneasy reactions from the jewelry trade, which has already seen the natural diamond market flounder a bit this year, due to several factors including the trend of man-made diamonds rising to historical highs.

De Beers markets its Lightbox lab-grown diamonds as alternatives for less-formal purchasing reasons, such as gifts for sweet-sixteen birthday celebrants, debutantes, or even for everyday wear by teenagers and youngsters. This might be an effort to help the public understand the difference in current value between this class of product and natural mined diamonds. Chemically speaking, lab-grown diamonds are still diamonds with essentially the same chemical composition (carbon) and crystal structure (cubic) as natural counterparts. This makes most diamond testers that rely on older technology (like thermal testers or electric conductivity testers) virtually useless in separating the two. Advanced photoluminescence spectrometry, and other laboratory tests are needed for the verification of natural diamonds today. One might wonder if this new foray by De Beers is going to further affect the mindset of buyers into accepting lab-grown diamonds as potential jewelry gifts for their loved ones.

Lightbox's prices for its lab-grown diamonds are modest enough to say the least. An earring pair we've seen on their website shows a price of 1000 USD for a total carat weight of 1ct., which basically means two LG diamonds weighing about 0.50ct each. The company's message in pricing is clearly heard- lab-grown diamonds are cheaper, because they're a different class of product. They are still diamonds though, and therefore maintain price ranges well above any diamond imitation used today- such as cubic zirconia or moissanite.

While some people are learning to love lab-grown diamonds, especially in the Western countries, it's really up to the personal taste of a jewelry buyer as to whether or not this product is something that he or she would consider purchasing in place of a natural earth-mined gemstone.

In the following years to come, De Beers is said to have plans for a manufacturing facility located in Oregon that would be able to produce about 200,000 polished carats annually, which calculates to around $200 million worth of merchandise for selling. The complex may be estimated to cost about $94 million. Where will the diamond industry take it from here?

This comprehensive article talked about many things within the diamond industry, but probably the most notable section was chapter 6 - “Recent developments in the lab-grown market” which was the spotlight statement we read on the JCK December article. Below, we have a quote from the Bain & Co. report, regarding the matter of lab-grown diamonds:

“Today, it costs $300 to $500 per carat to produce a CVD lab-grown diamond, compared with $4,000 per carat in 2008.”


Further down, they elaborate on general price trend observations. (You can read the entire report here as well.) or (read the JCK article, which may be easier to digest).

“As production costs have dropped, retail prices have followed. The retail price of gem-quality lab-grown diamonds nearly halved in the past two years, while wholesale prices dropped threefold. Prices are expected to decrease even further as production efficiencies increase, new competitors enter the market and the segment commoditizes.”



There is an enormous hype around lab-grown diamonds, with US-based millennial seeming to lead the current demand pool. Despite this, there is an equally large sector of the population that expresses uncertainty about the product class. We don’t really know how the value trend of lab-grown diamonds will pan out, as here in the Philippines, they are just beginning to emerge in larger quantities and carat weights (since early 2018). Much of our industry relies on the information provided by forecasts and reports from international trade firms.

This recent report for the Antwerp World Diamond Centre may cause concern for worry among the supporters of lab-grown diamonds. On the opposite side though, the reception for these products continues to grow, and we may see more lab-grown diamonds here in the Philippines by 2019. Our visitor base is still divided over whether these diamonds are investment worthy or not, but we clearly explain that a lab-grown diamond is still a diamond by chemistry. The difference between a lab-grown diamond and a natural stone at this point in time, is origin and overall price (both wholesale and retail prices of created diamonds are substantially lower than natural counterparts).

It's been notoriously known that many shady manufacturers of jewelry these days tend to con people by mixing both natural and man-made stones into the same piece of jewelry. Sometimes they use a lab-created diamond for the center stone, but other times people want to hide the deception much better.

Here at the laboratory, we have seen some people bring jewelry pieces (to be examined only), where up to 34% of the melee accent-stones turned out to be HPHT lab-grown diamonds. It should be noted that most of the pieces were purchased by their owners from sellers outside of the Philippines. This can be quite a concern though, as the value of an entire jewelry piece changes once you know that many of the stones came from being grown artificially at a lab or factory. Likewise the demand for a certain piece can also change once this realisation comes into play.




Side stones are generally melee-sized diamonds, often times not getting larger than .10 carats (in weight). These stones are often overlooked by clients, however the trends in jewelry design currently favor pieces that are highly encrusted by rows and rows of pave-set diamonds. Just imagine the cost that manufacturers would save if they used lab-created stones for 30-40% of the diamond melee batch.




Man-made or lab-created diamonds, again have the same chemical composition and structure as natural stones. The words "real", "authentic" and "genuine" do not really define the difference anymore between these stones and natural earth-mined stones. Despite this though, man-made diamonds can be easily detected and separated by experienced gemologists that possess the proper scientific equipment setup.

These stones are also cheaper than their natural counterparts, by anywhere from 40-60% at wholesale, but sometimes 30-40% through retail as far as we've observed during our research trips to country fairs like those held thrice a year in hong kong.


If you're particular about whether or not your diamond is man-made or naturally mined from the earth, feel free to set an appointment with our gemologist via our facebook page. Gemcamp Laboratories use advanced luminescence spectroscopy, aside from other gemological techniques and practices to help identify if your diamond is indeed a natural stone by chemical trace-element type analysis.

Needless to say, we are also capable of separating imitations and simulants from diamond. Imitation generally means something that is not a diamond, in crystal structure and essential chemistry. The only similarity it has to diamond is in visual semblance.

The growing concern over separating man-made or lab-grown diamonds from natural ones is well grounded on the fact that this gem species is one of the hardest ever to segregate visually, even for gemologists. In fact, for stones that are grown using the HPHT (High Pressure, High Temperature) method, exposure to the trade and processes involved with manufacturing man-made diamonds allowed laboratory gemologists to take note of certain characteristics observable in grown stones. These include specific types of metallic looking flux residues, and peculiar looking growth marks that showed the difference in a stone's crystal-development history.



The HPHT method has been the staple of the jewelry industry for many years, and still accounts for the production of many of the world's man-made diamonds today. Despite this, more and more technologically advanced companies have been working on (and developing proprietary advancements) the other method of diamond growing called Chemical Vapor Deposition or CVD for short. This type of laboratory-grown diamond is much less likely to show visible traces of its synthesis today. The diamonds themselves are grown from flat sheets, by depositing material layer by layer from a carbonaceous cloud of gas (like methane).



Lab-grown CVD diamonds have finally reached the point where their colors and clarities produced can be directly comparable to those of high quality natural diamonds. While lab-grown / man-made diamonds sold on with open disclosure and honest documentation are very beautiful products, the problem lies in the sale of these stones under the guise or label of 'natural diamonds'. These are two different categories of salable gems with two different price points in the trade, and therefore should not be mistaken for one another.

For natural diamond identity checks, we combine the use of scientific spectrometric equipment with the many years of experience held by our gemological staff through their involvement in the global diamond trade. For visits to our laboratory, you can set up an appointment with us through our official facebook page.