
Why We Should Care About the Hope Diamond
- September 5, 2021
By Sarah H. MillerDiversifying the diamond supply is a key component of the U.S. strategy to reverse climate change and help the poor and vulnerable, according to a new study by the U-M Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences.
The goal is to create a diamond that’s 100% recycled, with diamonds mined only from sustainable sources.
Diamonds make up more than half of all the diamonds mined worldwide, and are also a major contributor to the global supply of platinum, which is used in the production of titanium and other advanced materials.
This year, the UM team estimates that more than 70% of the world’s diamonds are mined from the U, S. and Canada, with the majority of the mined diamonds coming from Asia.
Diamond solitaire jewelry, the type most commonly worn by wealthy women and men, is another key demand.
Diamond companies have long tried to reduce the environmental footprint of their products by using diamond-bearing minerals in their jewelry.
But the hope diamond is a major part of that strategy, according the study published by the journal Environmental Research Letters.
The hope diamond has a high degree of conservation value.
In the study, the researchers found that nearly half of the diamonds they mined had a 99.5% chance of being recycled.
A 99.9% recycle rate would require the diamonds to be recycled at a rate of 3,000 tons of diamond per year.
To put that in perspective, the hope diamonds would have to produce about 9,000 tonnes of diamonds per year just to recycle a single ton of platinum.
So, it’s clear that the hope is a significant environmental and social success story, said the lead author, David W. Anderson, a doctoral student in the UME Department of Geosciences.
The hopes diamond is also very inexpensive to mine.
Because it’s made up of diamond crystals, its a relatively cheap resource to mine, said Anderson, and its an extremely productive one.
“The hope is that the diamonds in this diamond are going to be the ones that are going into the global economy, not the ones being mined in the traditional way,” he said.
Anderson said the hope has two main benefits.
The first is that it reduces the environmental impact of mining, because the hope can be mined in a way that is environmentally friendly.
“It is the first time that we have been able to do that, and we have managed to get our hope diamonds into the market,” he explained.
The hope diamond can be produced on a much smaller scale than other diamonds because of its small size.
The second is that there are very few environmental issues with the hope that can be resolved, Anderson said.
The Hope Diamond has a carbon footprint of less than 0.6 grams of carbon per ton of diamond mined.
“That’s a big difference from the average diamond,” he added.
“The average diamond is 2.5 grams of diamond, so it’s about 0.1 grams of a carbon resource.
So the hope gives us a big economic benefit.”
The hope diamonds are also one of the most economically viable diamonds, Anderson added.
He said that because they are produced using environmentally friendly processes, the Hope is able to be made more cheaply than the standard diamond, which has a higher carbon footprint.
“We can go out and produce the Hope at an efficiency of around 1 percent,” he told ABC News.
“There is no reason why we should want a smaller, cheaper diamond, or a smaller carbon footprint,” he concluded.
“There are very, very few diamonds that are made with this much carbon in them.”
The Hope Diamond is also one diamond that can help address the global poverty crisis, according Anderson.
“Because of the hope, it is an opportunity to change the world in a positive way,” Anderson said, adding that “every person who is able is an ambassador for change, not just in the United States, but globally.”
Anderson said that the Hope has the potential to be a “game-changer,” and that it has the capacity to make a positive difference in the lives of people around the world.
“It can bring us together in a better way,” said Anderson.
The future of the Hope diamond is “very bright,” he continued.
“I would like to see it become an iconic part of the jewelry, because people have such a high regard for it.”