【Los Angeles,】A Third Option Beyond Natural and Lab-Grown? What Are Ethical ‘Ocean Diamonds’?

Many people choose diamond jewelry as a gift for important milestones, whether for a loved one or as a reward for themselves. While diamonds have a glamorous image, are you aware of the significant environmental burden associated with their mining?
Natural diamond rough, formed over vast periods of time, lies dormant at depths of 150 to 700 kilometers underground. The typical mining process for natural diamonds involves sucking surrounding rock from deep holes in the ground, washing it, and finding the rough stones within. A major issue here is that trees around the mining site are often cut down to facilitate digging the holes.
Furthermore, the machinery used to suck underground rock to the surface emits large amounts of CO2, and the volume of water used to wash the massive quantities of extracted rock is enormous. According to a report by Imperial Consultants at Imperial College London, the CO2 emissions from diamond mining range from 57 to 160 kilograms per carat. Additionally, the amount of water consumed can be between 0.48 and 7.3 cubic meters.
There are also instances where some workers at diamond mining sites are subjected to harsh labor conditions and exploitation.

Due to these environmental and social concerns, lab-grown synthetic diamonds have gained attention in recent years. However, it’s not so simple to declare them “better,” as their production also generates enormous energy consumption.
Amidst this, some brands are incorporating a “third type of diamond”—neither mined nor lab-grown—into their jewelry collections. One such brand is “Azlee,” founded in 2015. The diamonds used in the “Ocean Diamond” collection created by the brand’s founder, Baylee Zwart, are all rough stones found by divers on the ocean floor.

Azlee uses ocean diamonds sourced by Ocean Diamonds. Unlike conventional large-scale mining methods that involve deep drilling on land or at sea, these diamonds are discovered through a small-scale method of searching for rough stones within seabed sediments.

Fundamentally, diamond rough is formed deep within the Earth’s interior under intense heat and pressure on carbon atoms. The aforementioned mining methods involve digging holes along the pathways (primary deposits) where these rough stones were brought closer to the surface by volcanic activity. On the other hand, rough stones can sometimes be found within sediments where diamond-bearing strata have been eroded by wind and rain and transported over long periods from rivers to the sea (secondary deposits). While the number of rough stones found this way is smaller compared to primary deposits, the advantage is that stones can be collected without the need for deep drilling.
When searching for rough stones in seabed sediments, many companies use ships to scoop up large quantities of seabed gravel and sift through it. However, Ocean Diamonds employs dedicated divers, with small groups of divers going out on small boats to search for diamond rough. Employing divers in this way not only creates local employment but also significantly reduces the energy consumption associated with diamond sourcing compared to traditional methods. Additionally, small-scale sourcing allows for detailed tracking of “who, when, where, and under what conditions the diamond was found,” ensuring high traceability, which is a key point.

Since its founding in 2015, Azlee, which launched the ocean diamond collection, has donated 1% of its sales to ocean conservation projects. This is because the brand’s founder and designer, Baylee Zwart, is also an avid surfer with a deep, daily concern for the marine environment. Her collaboration with Ocean Diamonds also stemmed from her desire to work with diamonds that have high traceability.

Jewelry is chosen with special feelings in mind. Precisely because it’s something to be cherished for a long time, we should also pay attention to whether it harms the global environment or people in distant countries and choose carefully.