De Beers targets younger spenders

Diamond sellers De Beers will start selling man-made diamond jewellery at a fraction of the price of mined gems, marking a historic shift for the world’s biggest diamond miner, which vowed for years that it wouldn’t sell such stones.

The strategy is designed to undercut rival lab-diamond makers, who have been trying to make inroads into the $80 billion (R1 trillion) gem industry.

De Beers will target younger spenders with its new diamond brand and try to capture customers who have been resistant to splurging on expensive jewellery. The company is betting it can split the market – with mined gems in luxury settings and engagement rings at the top and lab-made fashion jewellery aimed at millennials at the bottom.

“Lab grown are not special, they’re not real, they’re not unique,” De Beers CEO Bruce Cleaver said.

Diamonds grown in labs have the same physical characteristics and chemical makeup as mined stones. They’re made from a carbon seed placed in a microwave chamber and superheated into a glowing plasma ball. The process creates particles that can eventually crystallise into diamonds. The technology is so advanced that experts need a machine to distinguish between synthesised and mined gems.

De Beers is hoping to create a price gap with its new product, which will sell under the name Lightbox in the US. A one carat man-made diamond sells for about $4 000 and a similar natural diamond fetches roughly $8 000. The lab diamonds from De Beers will sell for about $800 a carat. – Bloomberg

Lab grown are not special, they’re not real, they’re not unique Bruce Cleaver CEO De Beers