Ethical Sourcing

So, what exactly is an ethical diamond? In brief, it’s a diamond that was produced courtesy of sustainable and ethical mining practices, the fair and safe treatment of miners, and stricter diamond sourcing practices. The trend was greatly inspired by a desire to address the role of diamond smuggling in the funding of civil wars in Africa.

The industry has made a commendable effort to shift to conflict free diamond mining. Mines were opened in Canada, and Botswana emerged as Africa’s ethical diamond capital. In 2003 the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) was established, and the sector recognised consumer pressure to change, vowing to improve its standards.

The diamond industry has undergone a seismic shift in recent years. While a natural diamond took up to 3.3 billion years (75% the age of the Earth) to crystallise its carbon atoms, a synthetic diamond can now be developed in state-of-the-art laboratory conditions in just weeks.

In the last five years, particularly, these synthetic diamonds have become the height of fashion, helping to usher in a new era of ‘conscious luxury.’