![This sentiment is echoed across the industry. Elton Escrivão, commercial director at Angola National Diamond Company (Endiama), was even more blunt about the synthetic threat. “The level of carbon emissions coming from synthetic diamonds is huge because they are not made in a lab. They are [made in] factories. I don’t even think they are lab-grown diamonds. They are factory-made diamonds,” he said.](https://diamgold.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/image-1-1024x672.png)
Lab diamonds vs mined – how much does love cost?
The diamond sector enters 2026 battered by falling prices, shrinking retail demand and a surge in cheaper lab-grown stones. The industry’s response is to sell nation building, social impact and scarcity itself.
According to Elton Escrivão, the industry simply has no choice but to succeed in its rebrand. “We are 100% confident that we will have a brighter natural diamond industry, because we cannot afford to fail, right? We are too big to fail,” he said.
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