Valentine's Day is just around the corner, and future engaged couples can opt for a less expensive version of the traditional diamond ring. Pure Grown Diamonds say they have made the world's largest man-made diamond at 3.04 carats after 70 years of research. "We have cultivated diamonds in a laboratory that are optically, chemically and physically identical to mined diamonds," said Pure Grown Diamonds President and CEO Lisa Bissell. "They're indistinguishable even under a microscope and yet they're very affordable." A finished synthetic stone sells for about half of the price of the mined gems and the lab-grown synthetics are identical to the stones coming from the Earth's mantle. When put next to each other, natural and synthetic diamonds are virtually identical. The Gemological Institute of America verifies that the man-made stones are real diamonds, and that differences can only be seen under specialized microscopes and UV light. Pure Grown Diamonds reproduces the conditions of space, where carbon seeds are put into vacuum chambers and sprayed with gases containing hydrogen and methane. After a few weeks, the seeds grow out to a rough stone ready to be polished. "The pure grown process starts with a carbon seed that's placed in a low pressure microwave chamber, hydrogen and methane gases are added to the chamber, then the plasma ball ignites, carbon molecules rain down on the seed, crystallization begins and six to 12 weeks later, you have a diamond that's ready for cutting and polishing," said Bissell. "They're conflict free and they're eco-friendly." The Kimberley Process - a group of 81 countries, including all the major diamond producers, formed to prevent "blood diamonds" from funding conflict - imposed an export ban on raw gems from Central African Republic in previous years. "Due to the depletion of natural resources, diamond prices have escalated 75 percent since 2009 and recent studies have said diamond prices will continue to increase 5 percent over the next decade, so laboratory grown diamonds, Pure Grown Diamonds are affordable, conflict free, and eco-friendly," said Bissell. "They're a socially responsible diamond." But since then, an additional 140,000 carats of diamonds, valued at $24 million (USD), had been smuggled out of the country, according to a United Nations panel estimate. Blood diamonds were thrust into the global spotlight in the 1990s during a succession of African conflicts where their trade financed arms purchases and resulted in human rights abuses. At the height of wars in Sierra Leone and Angola, about a fifth of all rough stones worldwide were believed to be blood diamonds, also known as conflict diamonds. For more news and videos visit ☛ ntdtv.tv Follow us on Twitter ☛ twitter.com/NTDTelevision Add us on Facebook ☛ on.fb.me/s5KV2C

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