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South African diamond mines are closing due to weak sales and lab-grown stones

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Re: South African diamond mines are closing due to weak sales and lab-grown stones

#51

Post by willsmith72 »

hn_submit wrote: post #48

The market for natural diamonds will cease to exist when you can buy lab-grown versions for a couple bucks. They wanted to differentiate between natural and lab-grown versions with the former being much more expensive. But that train has left the station since there's little to no difference in quality between the two. In fact, I once predicted there'd be huge scams where lab-grown ones would be repackaged and sold a…

> there's little to no difference in quality between the two

Lab grown can be way better quality. To me it was a no-brainer considering the ethical concerns, then add in the cost difference. The only argument I've heard for natural is "I like the imperfections". Sounds like brainwashing to me. They're chemically identical

The mining industry should die

Re: South African diamond mines are closing due to weak sales and lab-grown stones

#52

Post by willsmith72 »

fooker wrote: post #25
TomJansen wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>substantially cheaper price why substantially cheaper? Break-even would be fine too, no? And as a plus, lab-grown meat is much more ethical. I also think that replacing 'cheap' meat like ground beef would already be sufficient and would make a huge impact, there is really no need make it difficult for ourselves and try to replace rib-eye.

For me, it would have to be mass produced and about an order of magnitude cheaper. I'd rather not be testing/tasting experimental lab stuff. And mass production bringing down the price with economies of scale is the real proof that the technology is ready.

there's nothing holy about eating real animals (unless you're religious)

i'm no vegan, but if identical lab-grown alternatives are available at near same cost without the hormones, antibiotics, emissions, I'll take it

Re: South African diamond mines are closing due to weak sales and lab-grown stones

#54

Post by bdangubic »

margalabargala wrote: post #31
loloquwowndueo wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You both need to provide citations my dudes.

The first person hedged their statement with "I heard once" so it's likely true regardless of whether the rest is accurate. In a similar vein it has been said (by me, just now) that DeBeers is actually already out of diamonds and manufactures then de novo from the compressed ashes of orphans.

I heard that De Beers donated 99.6% of all of their profits so I am not sure what all the hoopla is about them

Re: South African diamond mines are closing due to weak sales and lab-grown stones

#56

Post by BurningFrog »

bastawhiz wrote: post #33
missedthecue wrote: post #18

Brutal news for Botswana which was really breaking new ground in raising Sub Saharan living standards. 30% of their GDP and a huge portion of government revenues are diamond exports. And they had gotten to 100% formalized and child labor free supply lines

Botswana's diamond mining industry is exactly one company: Debswana, a 50/50 joint venture between the government of Botswana and De Beers. Which means, when you think about it, that half of one subsidiary of De Beers is effectively producing ~one third of Botswana's GDP. Really puts into perspective how exploitative De Beers is.

I would describe it at showing how poor/unproductive the rest of Botswana's economy is.

Or is the theory here that De Beers somehow keeps the part of the Botswanian economy they don't participate in poor/unproductive?

Re: South African diamond mines are closing due to weak sales and lab-grown stones

#57

Post by kstrauser »

willsmith72 wrote: post #51
hn_submit wrote: post #48

The market for natural diamonds will cease to exist when you can buy lab-grown versions for a couple bucks. They wanted to differentiate between natural and lab-grown versions with the former being much more expensive. But that train has left the station since there's little to no difference in quality between the two. In fact, I once predicted there'd be huge scams where lab-grown ones would be repackaged and sold a…

> there's little to no difference in quality between the two Lab grown can be way better quality. To me it was a no-brainer considering the ethical concerns, then add in the cost difference. The only argument I've heard for natural is "I like the imperfections". Sounds like brainwashing to me. They're chemically identical The mining industry should die

I personally find lab grown much more beautiful, in that they’re an amazing accomplishment of mankind’s science and technology. So a tree got squeezed underground until it turned into a crystal? Cool, I guess, but big deal. Humans learned enough about how matter works to recreate those conditions at industrial scale? That’s amazing!

I’d much rather wear a monument to our cleverness than a dinosaur mashed under a rock.

Re: South African diamond mines are closing due to weak sales and lab-grown stones

#58

Post by Loughla »

hn_submit wrote: post #48

The market for natural diamonds will cease to exist when you can buy lab-grown versions for a couple bucks. They wanted to differentiate between natural and lab-grown versions with the former being much more expensive. But that train has left the station since there's little to no difference in quality between the two. In fact, I once predicted there'd be huge scams where lab-grown ones would be repackaged and sold a…

My spouse lost the main stone on their ring. We were able to get another that was twice the size and WAAAY better clarity and quality for about half of the price of the first one.

It's astonishing that it has taken this long to have this kind of impact.

Re: South African diamond mines are closing due to weak sales and lab-grown stones

#59

Post by Loughla »

bsoqk wrote: post #50
hn_submit wrote: post #48

The market for natural diamonds will cease to exist when you can buy lab-grown versions for a couple bucks. They wanted to differentiate between natural and lab-grown versions with the former being much more expensive. But that train has left the station since there's little to no difference in quality between the two. In fact, I once predicted there'd be huge scams where lab-grown ones would be repackaged and sold a…

> The market for natural diamonds will cease to exist when you can buy lab-grown versions for a couple bucks. Just like the luxury watches market ceased to exist when you could buy quartz watches for 10 bucks.

Except in this case, the quartz watches would be better quality than the luxury watches

I'm not sure your analogy has teeth.

Re: South African diamond mines are closing due to weak sales and lab-grown stones

#60

Post by fooker »

willsmith72 wrote: post #52
fooker wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me, it would have to be mass produced and about an order of magnitude cheaper. I'd rather not be testing/tasting experimental lab stuff. And mass production bringing down the price with economies of scale is the real proof that the technology is ready.

there's nothing holy about eating real animals (unless you're religious) i'm no vegan, but if identical lab-grown alternatives are available at near same cost without the hormones, antibiotics, emissions, I'll take it

Identical is the point here.

The test of 'identical' to me is going to be mass production with economies of scale. I surely don't have the equipment to test whether it's identical, nor would I trust the marketing.

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