Mined Diamonds

Timeless, elegant and classic. We’ve made diamonds our obsession!

Design Your Diamond Ring

Mined Diamonds

Timeless, elegant and classic. We’ve made diamonds our obsession!

Design Your Diamond Ring

Why Mined Diamonds?

They're timeless

With their neutral colour and long tradition you could argue that diamonds will never go out of style! They are also incredibly versatile and they work with a wide and exciting range of designs making them the perfect gemstone to suit every taste.

Value

Diamonds aren’t cheap but this is often the very reason they are chosen to mark life’s most valuable love stories.

Hardness

Who said being practical isn’t romantic? Diamonds are the hardest known mineral, meaning that they are resistant to the scratches that can make other gemstones appear dull and lifeless with wear. Along with Sapphires and Rubies (which are the next hardest gemstones) diamonds are a fantastic option for an engagement ring if you intend to wear it every day.

Beauty

Last but certainly not least – they are beautiful! A well cut diamond will create the perfect balance between fire and sparkle, diamonds give life to a piece and there’s no wonder they

About Diamonds

Where do diamonds come from?

Diamonds are formed in the upper mantle of the Earth in an environment of high pressure and high temperature. It is unknown how long they took form, with estimates anywhere from days and weeks to millions of years. Deep volcanic eruptions resulted in molten rock speeding toward the Earth’s surface, forming pipes of mineral rich igneous rock – now known as Kimberlite

Diamonds are then accessed through digging into the earth (mining) or by filtering alluvial deposits such as riverbeds

Very brief history of diamonds in jewellery

According to the GIA, some historians have estimated that India was trading in diamonds as early as the fourth century BC. In the early 1700 the supply in India began to decline and diamonds began to be discovered in Brazil, which dominated the diamond market for the next 150 years. By the 1800s European and American explorers discovered huge diamond deposits in South Africa, though still rare, these new discoveries meant that diamonds were no longer the exclusive riches of the royal and noble. From 1947 diamonds became synonymous with engagement rings following the most famously successful marketing campaign by DeBeers, coining the phrase ‘Diamonds are forever’. Diamonds have continued to be discovered across the world in countries including Russia, Australia and Canada.

The ethics of diamonds

In their history, diamonds have been involved in devastating human rights violations, some of which were infamously depicted in the 2006 film Blood Diamond. Since 2003 conflict free diamonds have been available through the Kimberley Process Certification System and World Diamond Council’s System of Warranties, both of which are explained in more detail here.

The future of diamonds is continually evolving with the availability of fully traceable Canadian Diamonds and more recently Everledger’s Blockchain traced diamonds.

Coloured Diamonds

About Coloured Diamonds

Observed in virtually every colour of the rainbow, coloured diamonds are a result of various different elements being present at the time the diamond was formed. Coloured diamonds are significantly rarer than diamonds in the D-Z colour range, and as such, they can command some of the highest prices of diamonds sold. Nicknamed ‘Fancy Diamonds’, rare coloured diamonds can truly make your forever piece stand out from the crowd.

Hue, Tone and Saturation

The body colour is graded by looking at hue, tone and saturation. Hue is your first impression of the stone (noting the appearance of red, blue, green or anything in between). Tone refers to the lightness and darkness of the colour. Saturation is a colour’s strength or intensity, for example if a blue diamond is high in saturation it could have quite a rich blue colour. The GIA explains the magic of coloured diamonds, breaking down which elements cause each colour as well as the quality factors to consider when selecting your perfect coloured diamond.