Stiff competition from lab-grown diamonds a reality – Brazilian geologist

It is now difficult to attract investors in the exploration of natural diamond mining at a time when the industry is facing stiff competition from lab-grown diamonds, according to a Brazilian geologist.

Speaking in Portuguese at a workshop in Luanda ahead of the Angola International Diamond Conference, José Ricardo Pisani of Georracional said mining investments can take 10 years before investors begin to receive returns on their investments.

“Investors do not want to deal with investments, which they don’t have control of,” he said.
“Synthetic diamonds [which require no exploration and are less risky] are going to be more competitive. It’s not something we talked about a few years ago.”
He said funds are now scarce to invest in diamond mining exploration with industry recording a peak in 2012.
This dropped by 37% in 2023 when compared to investments made in 2012.

Pisani said $19 billion was spent on exploration over the last decade.
He said that Angola should create a mechanism to attract international funding for its mining projects.
“What will make investors ignore Tesla shares and come to Angola?” he asked.
“Transparency by government in licencing and exploration [among other things] will attract investments.”

Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief, Rough&Polished from Luanda, Angola