Diamond mining ‘not destroying the earth,’ says Mouawad jewellery group

Mining diamonds may not be as damaging for the environment as lab grown diamond manufacturers may have you think, at least according to Pascal Mouawad, one of three brothers running the fourth generation family business famous for its A-list celebrity clientele and Guinness World Records.

Speaking to Arabian Business, the Co-Guardian of the Retail Division at Dubai and Geneva-based Mouawad said he is “not worried” about the environmental impact of diamond mining as it’s being “heavily pitched” by lab grown diamond manufacturers looking to sell manmade diamonds.

“Of course if you’re in the business to sell manmade, lab grown diamonds, you’re going to say that natural diamonds are going to destroy the earth and they’re really bad for the earth,” Mouawad said.

“There’s definitely some damage that happens as a result of mining diamonds but they’re being mined in particular areas of the world where I don’t think it’s destroying anything so for me, I’m not worried about that… It’s a story that’s being pitched heavily for those companies that do sell manmade diamonds – that they’re greener – but I don’t see it as an issue for our industry.”

While the negative impacts of mining diamonds include soil erosion and deforestation, manmade or lab grown diamonds can be equally damaging to manufacture as they require high temperatures to be produced.

In April last year, the US Federal Trade Commission sent warning letters to eight lab grown diamond companies accusing them of deceptive advertising that describes manmade diamonds as eco-friendly.

Bloodless diamonds

The Mouawad group says its diamonds are conflict free and ethically sourced, however, as it falls under the De Beers Sightholders, a programme which sells rough diamonds to a group of ethically accountable diamond makers 10 times a year.

“All our diamonds are conflict free. We have a De Beers Sightholder, everything is certified and conflict free, so clearly customers today want to make sure that these diamonds are conflict free and they’re not blood diamonds.

“We provide certification and guarantees that they’re sourced ethically which we back and certify ourselves,” Mouawad said of the rough diamonds supplied in Botswana, Namibia and South Africa.

The Mouawad group has been awarded the Guinness World Record five times since 1990. Its latest record is the world’s most valuable jewellery box, the $3.5 million Mouawad Flower of Eternity Jewellery Coffer featuring 542.39 carat of white and yellow diamonds, 293.24 carat of white and pink sapphires and 20.06 carat of rubies.

Courtesy: ArabianBusiness