
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or


Synthetic or natural? Diamond ring hunters may soon be asking themselves this question, as technological advances mean the gemstone market could be poised for a flood of man-made stones. Presenter Justin Rowlatt visits the new research headquarters of Element Six, the synthetics arm of mining giant de Beers, to find out how they are made and their proliferating industrial uses. He hears from diamonds journalist Chaim Even Zohar about the factory-made diamonds fraudulently passed of as natural gems. Author Matthew Hart retells the yarn of how a lowly small-time prospector first broke the de Beers cartel. And we hear from de Beers itself - their marketing head Stephen Lussier explains why diamonds really are forever.
By BBC World Service4.4
488488 ratings
Synthetic or natural? Diamond ring hunters may soon be asking themselves this question, as technological advances mean the gemstone market could be poised for a flood of man-made stones. Presenter Justin Rowlatt visits the new research headquarters of Element Six, the synthetics arm of mining giant de Beers, to find out how they are made and their proliferating industrial uses. He hears from diamonds journalist Chaim Even Zohar about the factory-made diamonds fraudulently passed of as natural gems. Author Matthew Hart retells the yarn of how a lowly small-time prospector first broke the de Beers cartel. And we hear from de Beers itself - their marketing head Stephen Lussier explains why diamonds really are forever.

7,913 Listeners

4,225 Listeners

1,067 Listeners

296 Listeners

427 Listeners

5,576 Listeners

1,808 Listeners

2,113 Listeners

357 Listeners

427 Listeners

52 Listeners

227 Listeners

238 Listeners

346 Listeners

235 Listeners

684 Listeners

232 Listeners

326 Listeners

3,245 Listeners

73 Listeners

689 Listeners

528 Listeners

630 Listeners

394 Listeners

41 Listeners

239 Listeners

54 Listeners

146 Listeners

80 Listeners

96 Listeners