Element Six Fund to Support Alternative Uses for Synthetic Diamonds
July 08, 08
The fund will be used to acquire minority stakes in operations that benefit from or exploit the characteristics of synthetic diamonds, whose relative hardness, resistance to abrasion and electrical conductivity make them prime candidates for many disparate industrial uses, according to a Financial Times report. 
Image courtesy of Element Six
"We see a great many commercial opportunities in artificial diamonds and hope this fund will help new ventures to grow in a profitable manner," said Christian Hultner, chief executive of Element Six. The firm also hopes that the $100 million will attract investment groups and technology firms for a total of $400 million in the next few years.
Hultner adds that the company is seeing a lot of interest “in the application of these materials.” His goal is to see a doubling of Element Six’s annual sales by 2013. 2008 sales are expected to exceed $500 million.
So far, three new companies in the
Element Six, formerly Industrial Diamond, is the largest artificial diamond manufacturer in the world. It is 60 percent owned by De Beers, with the remaining 40 percent owned by Belgian minerals group Umicore.