On Valentine’s Day, when an estimated six million Americans get engaged, when millennials are shying-away from earth-diamonds; MiaDonna & Company jewelry CEO, Anna-Mieke Anderson, and The Greener Diamond Foundation’s humanitarian ambassador, Muhammad Ali’s daughter, Khaliah, are launching a campaign to save blood diamond war orphans in concert with the announcement of a scientific breakthrough highlighted by the unveiling of the MiaDonna World’s Largest Laboratory-Grown-in-the-USA Diamond.
The truly eco-friendly, conflict-free 6.28 carat MiaDonna Largest Lab-Grown-in-the-USA Diamond is chemically, optically and physically identical to an earth-mined diamond, according to the Federal Trade Commission. Yet, MiaDonna Lab-Grown Diamonds cost 30 to 40 percent less.
Grown-in-the-USA
U.S. scientists in the company’s Beltsville, Maryland laboratories can now replicate the earth’s process of crystalizing carbon into a sizeable carat, brilliant diamond in 6 to 12 weeks. The difference between lab-created diamonds and earth-mined diamonds is indistinguishable, even under a microscope, according to the Gemological Institute of America.
4-C’s
The cushion cut, J-color, VS2-clarity lab-created diamond costs $52,000. An equivalent earth-mined diamond costs more than $100,000, according to the RapNet Diamond Network. A one carat round earth diamond costs more than $5,000. A one carat MiaDonna lab-grown diamond costs $3,600.
Market Disruptor
The laboratory diamond industry is disrupting the marketplace.
Earth-mined diamond sales are down, according to Morgan Stanley International Investments, because millennials are concerned about the environmental impact of mining, the human rights violations associated with the industry and because of increasing retail prices — up 11%-22% since 2011, according to IDEX.
Khaliah Ali: Greener Diamond Foundation Ambassador & Donation Program
Five percent of the sales of MiaDonna Lab-Grown Diamonds are donated to the company’s non-profit Greener Diamond Foundation. It funds educational, mentoring and agricultural programs aimed at preventing blood diamond war orphans from a life of poverty.
Khaliah Ali is The Greener Diamond Foundation’s humanitarian ambassador. “An Ali likes nothing more than a good fight and this is one worth fighting,” says Ali. “We are fighting to save the planet and to lives. Tens of thousands of children are orphaned due to diamond conflicts in Africa, which have killed four million people during the past two decades, according human rights organizations.”
Both Ali and Anderson have traveled on relief missions to African diamond mining regions.
“Murder, torture, kidnapping and rape are everyday occurrences in Africa’s diamond-mining countries,” says Anderson. “Most consumers neither know nor care about the origin of their diamonds. Consumer complacency is a key reason why blood diamonds still flow into jewelry stores.”
She emphasizes, MiaDonna laboratory diamonds are grown in a controlled, professional atmosphere. The environmental impact is near zero and, more importantly, no one was killed in the process.
Lab-Grown Diamond Process
โข Laser-Cut Small Carbon-Piece Known as Diamond Seed
โข Seed Placed in Low-Pressure Microwave Chemical Vapor Deposition Chamber
โข Hydrogen & Methane Gases Combined with Electrical Energy
โข Plasma Ball Ignites
โข Creates Cloud of Carbon Molecules That Start “Raining” On Seed
โข Diamond Starts Growing
โข Six to 12 Weeks Later A Sizeable Carat Diamond Cube is Formed
โข Cube is Custom Shaped, Ground & Polished
โข Laser Scribed on Diamond Girdle: “Lab-Grown” as Act of Voluntary Transparency
Ethical Jewelry for a New Generation
MiaDonna & Company was established in 2007. It is the world’s preeminent laboratory diamond e-commerce and Portland, Ore-based showroom seller of Grown-in-the-USA laboratory diamonds.
MiaDonna is not a traditional jewelry company. “We are creating new traditions, not following them. We are advocates for diamond consumers and global societies. For more than a decade, we have upheld a tradition of creating bridal jewelry that is eco-conscious, conflict-free and affordable for the consumer troubled by the environmental ramifications of mining and the history of violence in native diamond communities,” says Ms. Anderson.
MiaDonna is the world’s greenest jewelry company — offering the exclusive Eco Diamond collection of ethical and fashionable precious stones in settings that are custom handcrafted, using the finest grade recycled precious metals. “When people wear a MiaDonna ring, necklace, earrings or bracelet, they are displaying personal symbols of elegance, beauty, and eco-consciousness.”