31-07-2025
- Business
- AU Financial Review
How the diamond industry lost its sparkle
It takes the earth more than a billion years to forge a diamond. Feng Canjun can grow one in a week.
On a sweltering summer afternoon in Zhengzhou, capital of the central Chinese province of Henan, Feng's Jiaruifu diamond factory hums with energy. Inside, 600 machines, each larger than an African elephant, simulate the crushing geological pressure and diabolical heat deep in the earth's surface, where diamonds grow. The machines can turn out three-carat diamonds, the size of a large engagement ring, in just seven days.
