Latest news with #diamondMarket
RNZ News
3 days ago
- Business
- RNZ News
The disruptor that's sent diamond prices tumbling
Lab-grown diamonds, indistinguishable from mined diamonds, are flooding onto the market, at a tenth of the price of those that came out of the earth. Photo: Alexia Russell Diamonds are having a pearls moment. Once upon a time pearls were the world's most valuable jewellery item - their extreme rarity making them the way to display wealth to the world. But in the early 1900s Japanese pearl famers worked out how to culture them and for the first time, a string of round pearls became affordable and obtainable. Now, lab-grown diamonds, indistinguishable from mined diamonds, are flooding onto the market at a tenth of the price of those that came out of the earth. But before you rush out to buy a ring that will give you more bang for your buck, think again - the price of yellow gold has risen so much that if you want your sparkler set in a gold band, it could well have cancelled out your savings. "We've had big movements in diamond prices, in both mined and lab diamonds, over the past five years," says Newsroom senior business reporter Alice Peacock. "A lot of jewellers, a lot of retailers have been getting into the lab space, and manufacturing of lab diamonds has increased a lot over the last decade. They've been around for a few decades but have really taken off in popularity over the last 10 years. "There's a bit of confused terminology around what lab diamonds are, but they are real diamonds. The chemical and the physical makeup of them is exactly the same. Essentially you can't tell the difference. I think people have different ideas about the ethics of them, but again that's a bit of a murky area." The split between customers who want a lab or a mined diamond varies greatly between outlets, but Peacock says Michael Hill Jeweller told her it's still lower than 50 percent. In its Canadian and Australian stores however, the demand is higher. In the US demand is soaring. Zoë and Morgan is a bespoke jeweller in Auckland. If you look at the company's website you will see side by side two rings, a two-carat lab diamond for $6,000, and a mined diamond of 1.01 carats for $16,700. Zoë Williams is the co-owner of Zoë and Morgan, a bespoke jeweller in Auckland Photo: Alexia Russell Zoë Williams is the co-owner and says at the moment more than half of her customers are opting for a lab-grown diamond - but it's a really changeable situation. She tells The Detail that many customers come in who don't know what lab diamonds are, or who think they're fake. "It's been fun just to be able to chat about the different processes ... obviously the way diamonds have been extracted through history is really horrible." However, the increasing popularity of lab diamonds has forced the "natural" diamond industry to improve its game, with more ethical operations and giving back to the communities they're taken from. Williams explains how jewellers can trace the origins of mined stones using the code each one comes with. "In modern times, all of those mining processes have had to become much more ethically-minded to come up to speed with how we should be treating our humans in the world. "And that's a fantastic thing. That's what I personally quite like about the lab diamonds coming onto the market, is it's .... caused the other side of the industry to really tidy up their act and to really become a lot more responsible. And within all of these things there's pros and cons ... but I do feel like we've made some great advances in the last few years." But lab-grown diamonds aren't spotless when it comes to sustainability - it takes an immense amount of energy to make them and there are nasty chemicals involved. Williams says the diamond market is also no longer just about engagement rings, but people are buying them to mark special moments in their lives - from the 21-year-old who's celebrating getting a job, to someone who's not waiting for someone to give them a diamond, to those who've made it to 40 and are happy with where they are in life. They might not be quite the investment they used to be sold as, but Williams questions if that really matters. "Sometimes I like the idea that it doesn't stand up financially, but it holds an incredible story and it holds a lot of personal value, and I think that's really important as well." Check out how to listen to and follow The Detail here . You can also stay up-to-date by liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter .
RNZ News
4 days ago
- Business
- RNZ News
The disruptor that's sent diamond price tumbling
Lab-grown diamonds, indistinguishable from mined diamonds, are flooding onto the market, at a tenth of the price of those that came out of the earth. Photo: Alexia Russell Diamonds are having a pearls moment. Once upon a time pearls were the world's most valuable jewellery item - their extreme rarity making them the way to display wealth to the world. But in the early 1900s Japanese pearl famers worked out how to culture them and for the first time, a string of round pearls became affordable and obtainable. Now, lab-grown diamonds, indistinguishable from mined diamonds, are flooding onto the market at a tenth of the price of those that came out of the earth. But before you rush out to buy a ring that will give you more bang for your buck, think again - the price of yellow gold has risen so much that if you want your sparkler set in a gold band, it could well have cancelled out your savings. "We've had big movements in diamond prices, in both mined and lab diamonds, over the past five years," says Newsroom senior business reporter Alice Peacock. "A lot of jewellers, a lot of retailers have been getting into the lab space, and manufacturing of lab diamonds has increased a lot over the last decade. They've been around for a few decades but have really taken off in popularity over the last 10 years. "There's a bit of confused terminology around what lab diamonds are, but they are real diamonds. The chemical and the physical makeup of them is exactly the same. Essentially you can't tell the difference. I think people have different ideas about the ethics of them, but again that's a bit of a murky area." The split between customers who want a lab or a mined diamond varies greatly between outlets, but Peacock says Michael Hill Jeweller told her it's still lower than 50 percent. In its Canadian and Australian stores however, the demand is higher. In the US demand is soaring. Zoë and Morgan is a bespoke jeweller in Auckland. If you look at the company's website you will see side by side two rings, a two-carat lab diamond for $6,000, and a mined diamond of 1.01 carats for $16,700. Zoë Williams is the co-owner of Zoë and Morgan, a bespoke jeweller in Auckland Photo: Alexia Russell Zoë Williams is the co-owner and says at the moment more than half of her customers are opting for a lab-grown diamond - but it's a really changeable situation. She tells The Detail that many customers come in who don't know what lab diamonds are, or who think they're fake. "It's been fun just to be able to chat about the different processes ... obviously the way diamonds have been extracted through history is really horrible." However, the increasing popularity of lab diamonds has forced the "natural" diamond industry to improve its game, with more ethical operations and giving back to the communities they're taken from. Williams explains how jewellers can trace the origins of mined stones using the code each one comes with. "In modern times, all of those mining processes have had to become much more ethically-minded to come up to speed with how we should be treating our humans in the world. "And that's a fantastic thing. That's what I personally quite like about the lab diamonds coming onto the market, is it's .... caused the other side of the industry to really tidy up their act and to really become a lot more responsible. And within all of these things there's pros and cons ... but I do feel like we've made some great advances in the last few years." But lab-grown diamonds aren't spotless when it comes to sustainability - it takes an immense amount of energy to make them and there are nasty chemicals involved. Williams says the diamond market is also no longer just about engagement rings, but people are buying them to mark special moments in their lives - from the 21-year-old who's celebrating getting a job, to someone who's not waiting for someone to give them a diamond, to those who've made it to 40 and are happy with where they are in life. They might not be quite the investment they used to be sold as, but Williams questions if that really matters. "Sometimes I like the idea that it doesn't stand up financially, but it holds an incredible story and it holds a lot of personal value, and I think that's really important as well." Check out how to listen to and follow The Detail here . You can also stay up-to-date by liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter .
CBC
13-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
'Diamonds are forever,' but not necessarily so for northern mining industry
DeBeers recently renewed its focus on natural diamonds after experimenting with lab grown ones, but that probably won't be enough to revive diamond mining in northern Ontario, according to some working in the sector. In a press release last week, the mining giant pointed to a sharp decline in prices for lab-grown diamonds, and said that trend underpinned the company's "core belief in rare, high value and natural diamond jewellery." DeBeers started its lab-grown diamond business around the same time it closed its only diamond project in Ontario — the Victor Mine near Attawapiskat First Nation in the province's far north. Victor was a productive and profitable mine for DeBeers, which was able to recover 8.3 million carats of diamonds between 2006 and 2019. But diamond prices have decreased overall since that time because of a changing consumer preferences and the explosion of the lab-grown diamond market. Sudbury jeweller Gerry Aubin says nowadays only one in about 100 hundred customers comes in asking for natural diamonds. "This past year I've sold one natural stone," he said. "Everybody's buying lab-grown, like it's not even a discussion that people are having." Aubin says lab-grown prices are so much cheaper, and people can't differentiate them from natural ones. Marketing to revive interest in natural diamonds Justin Daley, CEO of junior exploration company VR Resources, has noticed a similar trend. "I'm 35 years old, a lot of my friends are getting married, not many of them are buying diamonds," he said. "It's difficult to justify buying a very expensive stone when you can just buy an emerald." VR Resources made an important diamond discovery "by accident" in the James Bay region in 2023 while exploring for other minerals. Daley says the deposit is promising, but he isn't banking on it. "There's been very little interest in general in the project," he said. "Existing diamond mines aren't making money, and when existing mines don't make money you tend not to go looking for new ones." In last week's press release, DeBeers said its plan is to invest in "reinvigorating desire for natural diamonds through category marketing," but Daley isn't convinced that will cut it. "It took a lot of really smart marketing by DeBeers to create this sort of aura of mystique and allure, 'Diamonds are forever,' but that's just sort of worn itself out I think," he said. But Mike McTavish, owner of Forage Fusion Drilling, is striking a more optimistic tone. "I don't think we'll ever use that part of the market," he said. "Yes, we can produce a lot of stuff in labs now. But I still believe real diamonds are the best." He does say, however, that diamond drilling contracts have been few and far between, and they don't pay as much as they used to. It's something he feels a bit nostalgic about the rise of lab-grown diamonds. "It's sad that we don't rely on the good old prospector hammering on a few rocks," he said. "That's why we do exploration drilling, we get to go and find the unknown."
