this post was submitted on 01 Jun 2025
404 points (99.5% liked)

Futurology

2759 readers
26 users here now

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Diamond prices are down 60% since a 2011 high, and they are still falling. It's not all down to lab-grown diamonds, demand is down too, especially in China.

No one can lab-grow gold yet, so its rarity and scarcity protect its value, but that will end too. It's just a question of when. China launched an asteroid touch-down mission this week, which will make it the 4th country/region to do so, after Europe, the US & Japan.

How soon will it be feasible to mine asteroids? Who knows, but a breakthrough in space propulsion might mean the prospect happens quickly when it does. It's possible gold has twenty years or less of being high value left.

The $80 Billion Diamond Market Crash Leaves De Beers Reeling

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] figjam@midwest.social 9 points 6 days ago (1 children)

It's possible gold has twenty years or less of being high value left.

In 20 years florida and NYC may be underwater.

[–] Prethoryn@lemmy.world 6 points 6 days ago (1 children)

In 20 years Flordians won't have teeth.

[–] Aggravationstation@feddit.uk 2 points 6 days ago

They can replace them with gold teeth for rock bottom prices!

[–] stevedice@sh.itjust.works 12 points 6 days ago (3 children)

I'm skeptical about the feasibility of transporting heavy metals through space. Also, diamond were never scarce, it was all literally market manipulation.

[–] Wilco@lemm.ee 4 points 6 days ago

Yes, if diamonds were rare I wouldn't have a diamond tipped drillbit set and several diamond saws. "Blah blah" quality ... sure ... but rare is rare.

[–] tempest@lemmy.ca 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Eh they are already moving a good clip relative to the earth, nudging them in this direction would be the easier part of the equation. Stopping them when they get here is probably where you want to focus your energy... No pun intended

[–] stevedice@sh.itjust.works 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.

[–] squaresinger@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

They are talking about not returning mined material from asteroids but about changing the trajectory of asteroids so that they collide with Earth. But if you do so, the asteroid would likely be destroyed, leaving little to mine, so it would have to be stopped (or slowed down) before reaching the ground.

[–] stevedice@sh.itjust.works 2 points 6 days ago

Oh, right. I totally forgot about that part, I thought they were talking about diamonds.

[–] Honytawk 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Why wouldn't it be feasible to transport heavy metals through space? They would just float.

[–] stevedice@sh.itjust.works 2 points 6 days ago

Shooting stuff into space is hard, bringing it back to Earth is harder.

[–] hark@lemmy.world 8 points 6 days ago (1 children)

But the plummeting price of gold from the abundance would make the asteroid mining commercially nonviable. As an aside, only 7.16% of the gold demand in the world is actually for technology: https://www.statista.com/statistics/299609/gold-demand-by-industry-sector-share/

[–] Zacryon@feddit.org 4 points 6 days ago (1 children)

There are many many more materials than just gold that could be extracted from asteroids.

But sure, establishing the infrastructure to make it commercially viable is a huge investment and won't be commercially viable for a while. (Think about missions like Hayabusa that cost hundreds of millions to bilLions, but retrieved "just" a couple of gram of material.)

[–] Regrettable_incident@lemmy.world 5 points 6 days ago (2 children)

I suspect asteroid mining won't be profitable unless we are able to use the materials to build stuff in space. It costs so much to launch stuff into space that a ton of say iron is going to be worth much more there than on earth. Whether we'll ever reach that stage is anyone's guess but I hope so.

[–] bountygiver@lemmy.ml 3 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Just need to make sure the mining machine is durable enough and can launch itself from asteroids, because launching from asteroids with their low gravity is a lot easier than from earth, so a single earth launch can mine from multiple asteroids and send stuffs back.

[–] Zacryon@feddit.org 1 points 6 days ago

Time to make Space Elevators real.

[–] BmeBenji@lemm.ee 6 points 6 days ago

Ah, yes, the notoriously accessible and inexpensive field of launching rockets, landing said rocket on a giant sized bullet so a robot can go drill in it for weeks to dig up thousands of pounds of rock, lifting the robot that now weighs significantly more off of the giant bullet, and safely returning it to our larger, slightly slower bullet.

[–] plyth@feddit.org 6 points 6 days ago (1 children)

If the price of gold plunges one day, it should already plunge today. In other words, the probability for success of those mining operations is low.

[–] Honytawk 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Why should it already plunge today? The demand/supply is still the same.

But it will not be the same when asteroid mining increases the supply tenfold.

[–] plyth@feddit.org 1 points 6 days ago

True if used in production. But it's used to store value. If I know gold will be worth 50% next year, I am not willing to pay full price today if I want to resell it then.

[–] eleitl@lemm.ee 3 points 6 days ago

The rocket equation wants to have words with you.

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 3 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (3 children)

Are they able to lab grow the same kind of gem quality diamonds that you usually think about when it comes to jewelry, or is it still mostly industrial applications (such as diamond tipped drill bits)?

[–] pinball_wizard@lemmy.zip 10 points 6 days ago

I've heard that lab grown are actually better across each measurement (clarity,shine, whatever), than natural diamonds, now.

[–] squaresinger@lemmy.world 7 points 6 days ago

Lab grown diamonds are much better quality than natural diamonds. So now natural diamond companies are moving to the "imperfections is what make a diamond perfect" strategy. But nothing's stopping labs from growing diamonds with imperfections if that's what the people are after.

All in all, diamonds have always been mostly a scam and it's showing more and more.

[–] Honytawk 1 points 6 days ago

It is the blood and slavery that make natural diamonds so valuable /s

[–] mysticpickle@lemmy.ca 34 points 1 week ago (1 children)
load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›