The Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC) has retracted its definition of a diamond following what it calls “industry misapprehension as to its meaning and intent.”
Last month, RJC broadened the scope of its definition to include laboratory-grown diamonds in an effort to allow makers of these stones to become members. However, an apparent industry outcry has forced RJC to revisit its wording. The previous definition read:
“A mineral (natural or laboratory-grown), consisting essentially of pure carbon crystallized with a cubic structure in the isometric system. Its hardness on the Mohs scale is approximately 10; its specific gravity is approximately 3.52; it has a refractive index of approximately 2.42 and it can be found in many colours.”
The new definitions are:
• “A diamond is a natural mineral consisting essentially of pure carbon crystallized with a cubic structure in the isometric system. Its hardness on the Mohs scale is 10; its specific gravity is approximately 3.52; it has a refractive index of approximately 2.42 and it can be found in many colours.”
• “A laboratory-grown/synthetic diamond is any object or product that has been either partially or wholly crystallized or re-crystallized due to human intervention such that it meets the requirements specified in the definition of the word ‘diamond,’ with the exception of being non-natural.”
