https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/
DeBeers renews focus on natural diamonds after closing lab-grown business
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 news 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 jewelry.” 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 said that nowadays, only about one in 100 customers comes in asking for natural diamonds.
For the rest of this article: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/debeers-natural-lab-grown-exploration-mining-industry-1.7533046