- Tsaone Segaetsho
No one has ever examined the ethics behind the production of lab-grown diamonds, which is in contrast to the natural diamonds which fall under the Kimberley Process, adhere to UN and World Trade Organisation ethical standards, and are always subject to scrutiny.
This was the assessment made by Dr Leon Daniels of Pangolin Diamonds during his contributions at the ongoing Africa Mining Summit.
The Africa Mining Summit is a pan-African event that brings together mining industry players to discuss various issues within the sector.
Daniels, who owns a mining company that specialises in exploration and cutting and has also been involved in gold mining in northern Botswana, stated that lab-grown diamonds are not produced with ethical considerations, unlike natural diamonds.
The experienced miner explained that natural diamonds are often subject to bad publicity or propaganda because synthetic diamonds are not ethically produced and seem to escape scrutiny regarding how they are created.
While holding contention to the disparity in consideration for natural and synthetic diamonds, Daniels advised those dealing with natural diamonds at all levels of its value chain not to undermine the propaganda that is being spearheaded by the synthetic diamond manufacturers.
“Natural diamond miners should fight fire with fire. They need to launch strong marketing campaigns and media efforts to counter this propaganda. They shouldn’t just sit back and cry foul,” said Daniels.
