De Beers has announced that it has suspended the production of synthetic diamonds under the Lightbox brand. While the price of the latter fell sharply, driven by the same downward movement as that of mined stones, the South African diamond merchant is now focusing its strategy on natural diamonds.
” Diamonds are forever » De Beers has been proclaiming for a long time.
On the other hand, his strategy of manufacture of laboratory stones for jewelry will not have lasted more than six years.
While its owner, the raw materials giant Anglo American, in the midst of restructuring, wants to sell it, the mining company De Beers will suspend Lightbox’s jewelery business.
Al Cook, CEO of the South African diamond specialist, took advantage of the JCK Show, dedicated to jewelry, in Las Vegas to announce the cessation of the manufacture of synthetic stones for its Lightbox jewelry brand, in its factory in Gresham, in Oregon. This activity will continue but will reorient to the production of industrial and technological diamonds.
New industrial targets
In an interview given to national jeweler, Al Cook, explained that “falling price of synthetic diamonds paves the way for amazing technological activities (…) Some high-tech companies are investigating how to use diamonds as components in the digital age. And that’s where the future of synthetic diamonds lies for us.”