The author | Cat brother
The source | Big Cat Finance
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Recently, the capital market has set off a "cultivated diamond concept", which has really caught fire for a while.
All kinds of concept stocks are rampant, rising sharply, and Wald, who does diamond tools, has risen by 15% a day; diamonds that can make power diamonds comparable to natural diamonds have rushed to the 300 yuan / share mark by relying on new stocks + concepts; even ST King Kong, which is deeply involved in financial fraud scandals, has relied on this time and walked out of a wave of the market.
Why is it suddenly on fire?
Of course, there is an element of hype in it, after all, the follow-up is still a bit of a fall, but, from the perspective of reality, its fire is also justified.
One of the most popular topics this year is carbon control, carbon peaking, carbon neutrality, various related matters have been launched, and it is only a matter of time before cultivating diamonds becomes the new favorite of the market.
Cultivated diamonds, also known as synthetic diamonds, in 1954, the United States GE developed the world's first synthetic diamond, in 1963, China has also used graphite to synthesize synthetic diamonds.
One is natural and one is artificial, and the difference is still very large.
According to Frost & Sullivan's Environmental Impact Analysis of Rough Diamond Production, mined diamonds produce 57,000 grams of harmful carbon emissions per carat, while cultivated diamonds release only 0.028 grams per carat.
In addition, the acquisition of one carat of natural diamonds requires the destruction of up to 1750 tons of irreparable and long-term uncultivable soil, while the damage caused by cultivated diamonds to the environment is zero, whether from the perspective of carbon control or environmental protection, it is obviously more artificial and more in line with the current market environment.
At present, synthetic diamonds, whether in appearance or physical composition and chemical properties, are no different from natural diamonds.
With ultra-high hardness, the application of synthetic diamond is as small as home decoration and as large as aerospace, which is basically used and is one of the most important materials in the industry.
However, whether it is the hype angle or the market perspective, the most important point of concern is its value as a gemstone.
After all, diamonds are one of the most expensive gemstones.
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At first, diamonds were only ornaments of the nobility, and the existing ancient diamonds were either on the crown or on the scepter, owned by either Queen Victoria of England or Louis XIV of France, and by the later Titanic the "Heart of the Sea" was already an antique.
(Screenshot of Titanic)
Because it is not produced indigenously, it is basically plundered by the British overseas colonization, and many large diamonds come from India, which is not so much a gem as a symbol of the power of the ancient empire.
In 1869, in South Africa, which was still a British colony, diamond mines were discovered, and when many Europeans went to South Africa to dig for diamonds, the Dutch Brothers De Beer bought a farm and began to mine, and later the Englishman Cecil Rhodes also came.
At first, there were restrictions on mining, and then the restrictions were lifted, Cecil began to expand, merging many mines, in 1888, Cecil bought the de Beer brothers' farm, followed its name, and established the De Beers Mining Company, which became the oldest diamond mining company, which is now De Beers.
Then the myth of De Beers' diamond opens.
First of all, De Beers is taking the road of monopoly, because it has mines, so it only sells to its selected customers, then the bargaining power is naturally firmly controlled in its own hands, and in order to better control the price, its annual diamond production and inventory allocation are limited.
At that time, diamond mines were scarce, so diamonds could naturally be scarce, and how to sell them was not up to them.
But as new diamond mines began to appear around the world, De Beers' position was threatened, so its hand extended from upstream to downstream, and later, it came out of its global advertising slogan, "A diamond is forever", when it came to China, it was "diamond forever, a diamond forever".
Well, diamonds are starting to hook up with love and forever.
"Love me? How do you prove it? ", diamond ring.
As a result, this magical gemstone, which was not scarce in modern origins, exceeded the price of gold and silver with a long history, and became one of the most expensive gemstones with the blessing of marketing.
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At the jewelry counter, a diamond may represent love, but in the place of origin of the diamond, it may not be so beautiful.
In 2006, Hollywood made a movie, which was originally the "little plum" Leonardo's rush to the Olympics, but was boycotted by many diamond dealers, this movie is called "Blood Diamond", which depicts a story that occurred in Sierra Leone in the 90s, and can also be briefly summarized as "a bloody case caused by a diamond".
In the real world, Sierra Leone is rich in diamonds, with large particles, high clarity, and easy to mine, even if you dig a random riverbed, you can find diamonds.
When the wealth code is in front of you, the price of fighting for wealth is bloody.
In 1991, there was a civil war in Sierra Leone, which was a very anxious war, during which the opposition "RUF" and the government forces pulled each other, and the forces of all sides took turns to come to power.
Ruf, which had almost taken control of the diamond mines throughout the country, began to dig and export diamonds, all kinds of cruel means were used, and the financial resources brought by diamonds became a weapon to expand equipment and manpower;
The bloody civil war that lasted 11 years finally ended in 2002, with 50,000 deaths and a third of the country's population displaced, a diamond-rich country that did not become rich because of diamonds, but paid a very high price for diamonds.
Also plagued by "blood diamonds" are Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and even the Lebanese civil war of the 1970s, which was secretly funded by diamond smugglers.
"Blood diamonds" finally got the attention of the United Nations, the United Nations Security Council resolution, banning the import of rough diamonds from these war countries without the approval of the legitimate government to prevent diamonds from being used in war, and later many countries also began to require diamond producing countries to issue a certificate of origin when exporting diamonds.
Later, the system became an international regime known as the Kimberley Process International Certification Scheme, which currently has 54 members representing 81 countries and covers more than 99.8 per cent of the world's diamond resources.
In the year of the release of "Blood Diamond", De Beers, who was quite critical of the film, also came out to speak, "What is described in the film is already a thing of the past."
However, at the end of 2012, the Central African Republic, the world's 12th largest diamond producer, still broke out into civil war and was once again involved in diamond conflicts, and later the "blood diamonds" in Central Africa were banned by the Kimberley Process.
It's been less than 10 years.
04
For 133 years, diamonds have gone from being the most precious gemstones to the "blood diamonds of doom" to the present, becoming an IQ tax.
Some of the conditions originally used to create myths are no longer valid:
The myth of scarcity has long been falsified, the mineral deposits are not small, and the control of output is only a means of maintaining prices;
Linked to love, but the pluralistic expression of love, is no longer stuck to diamonds;
Moreover, consumers who have paid for marketing for many years have returned to the taste and have begun to embrace synthetic diamonds.
Why? cheap.
For example, the process of synthetic diamonds in China has become very mature, and Henan has become the center of synthetic diamonds, which can not only achieve large particles, but also have clarity comparable to natural diamonds.
Moreover, in terms of price, the price difference between artificial diamonds and natural diamonds is not a little, and artificial diamonds can liberate the wallets of diamond lovers.
Moreover, many brands that advocate natural diamonds are not justified in blowing value-added.
From the price point of view, the price of natural diamonds is also gradually declining in fluctuations, but from the perspective of the market, don't say anything about appreciation, it is difficult to preserve the value, after all, many diamonds are bought and sold with a hammer, and it is difficult to sell at the terminal.
Diamonds in jewelry stores are consumer goods rather than investment goods.
Therefore, in recent years, some low-end jewelry brands have begun to embrace artificial diamonds, and Delbis, as the initiator of the IQ tax, has also relaxed in this regard and launched its own synthetic diamond brand, but some so-called high-end brands are still hard to carry.
How long can you carry it?
Walk and see.