De Beers said it would stop making lab-grown diamonds for jewellery to focus on marketing the “unique attributes” of natural stones. Stakes are high after sales plummeted in 2023, and as owner Anglo-American explores a sale or spin-off.
The miner’s Element Six business will streamline its three chemical vapor deposition (CVD) plants, merging them all into its $94 million facility in Portland, Oregon. That plant will pivot into a technology hub that produces diamonds for industrial applications.
The announcement calls time on De Beers’ six-year experiment of producing its own lab-grown diamonds for the Lightbox jewellery line, which launched in 2018. During those six years, prices for lab-grown diamonds collapsed, leading to thinner retail margins in dollar terms and making the category less appealing to jewelers. De Beers also received backlash from the industry at various points, notably when it briefly tested lab-grown diamond engagement rings.
Lightbox will continue to operate as a consumer brand after the transition, which will happen in the next few months.The brand has enough inventory to keep sales going for the “foreseeable future,” after which it will make a decision on how to proceed, he explained. Discarding the line is not among De Beers’ considerations.
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