Next we are talking specifically about diamonds that a geologist picks up from a tube and an engineer sorts at a factory. Most of them will not make it to the jewelry counter.<\/p>\n\n\n Where a gemstone comes from is the most fundamental classification. There are four categories, and they are fundamentally different.<\/p>\n\n\n This classification of diamond mining types does not say anything about the color, clarity or price of the mineral. The same stone can be kimberlite in genesis and yellow type Ia in physics.<\/p>\n\n\n Read also: <\/em><\/strong>Diamond mining areas: where in Russia they are looking for new deposits<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u2014 how geologists find kimberlite pipes, why out of 800 in Russia only 13 turned out to be industrially significant<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n According to the second classification, the crystal itself is assessed – whether there are any impurities in it. The system was proposed physicists Kaiser and Bond<\/a> in 1959, the Soviet school modified it. The separation is based on one parameter – the presence of nitrogen impurities.<\/p>\n\n\n The types of diamond colors are directly related to the type. Yellow and brown<\/strong> – from nitrogen (types Ia, Ib). Blue and blue<\/strong> – from boron (type IIb), such as the famous Hope Diamond<\/a> at 45.52 carats. Pink and red<\/strong> – plastic deformations of the lattice that arose after the formation of the stone. Greens<\/strong> – the only color that a diamond receives from radiation from neighboring radioactive minerals. This coloring is often present only in the surface layer – as soon as you cut it with a cut, the color goes away.<\/p>\n\n\n Why is this classification of diamond types needed in practice? The gemologist immediately classifies the colorless mineral of type Ia as natural. Colorless type IIa is sent to the laboratory: with a high probability it is CVD synthetics or a natural stone that has undergone HPHT treatment. By type, experts determine where the diamond can be used. Thus, microelectronics requires crystals without nitrogen defects, and this is the rarest type IIa.<\/p>\n\n\n \u201cMan-made diamonds will not go into electronics. Electronics is an important problem that can be solved with diamonds: a microchip platform, a completely different conductor. But for this you need diamonds without nitrogen compounds, only pure carbon. When nitrogen is included in the center of the crystal, their properties change. And such nitrogen-free natural diamonds are very highly valued,\u201d Vladimir Shchukin.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n The third classification is commodity. The industry needs to understand what to do next with the stone. In Russia this is regulated <\/a>GOST R 59303-2021<\/a>. Any crystal according to it describe<\/a> four characteristics: size-weight group (through sieve screening and carat weight), crystal shape, color and quality (defectivity).<\/p>\n\n\n The industry division by application is based on these characteristics:<\/p>\n\n\n In world production, industrial grades account for about 40%. In the overall consumption of industrial diamonds, natural stones are almost completely replaced by synthetics – drill bits, abrasives, and cutting tools are now made from laboratory raw materials.<\/p>\n\n\n The fourth classification is by origin. By USGS data<\/a>, in the USA alone, about 97% of industrial diamonds are coated with synthetics. There are two growing technologies.<\/p>\n\n\n HPHT<\/strong> (High Pressure, High Temperature) is an old method that recreates conditions like in the mantle. Graphite and metal catalyst compress up to 5\u20136 GPa at 1300\u20131600 \u00b0C<\/a> – The process can take weeks or months. The resulting crystals most often belong to physical type Ib (with single nitrogen atoms) and take on the cuboctahedral shape characteristic of HPHT synthetics.<\/p>\n\n\n CVD<\/strong> (Chemical Vapor Deposition) is a modern method. In a vacuum chamber on a seed diamond plate is besieged<\/a> carbon from a mixture of methane and hydrogen decomposed by microwave plasma. The stones grow layer by layer. CVD diamonds are usually include<\/a> to type IIa – almost pure carbon.<\/p>\n\n\n For example, St. Petersburg New Diamond Technology<\/a> grows HPHT diamonds weighing more than 100 carats and makes them into wafers for electronics and quantum technologies. Here, synthetics do the job that natural diamond cannot do.<\/p>\n\n\n Read also: <\/em><\/strong>New technologies in the production of synthetic diamonds for electronics<\/em><\/strong><\/a> <\/em><\/strong>\u2014 about NDT and wafers for semiconductors. And if you are wondering who will win the confrontation between natural and synthetic stones, we have <\/em><\/strong>separate analysis \u201cNatural diamonds versus synthetics\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n The same diamond is described from several sides at once: history (where it comes from), physics and color (what\u2019s inside), product category (what it\u2019s good for), origin (nature or laboratory). To fully characterize a stone, you need all four characteristics at once.<\/p>\n\n\n![\"kmo](\"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/kmo_111307_63095_1_t249_112017-1024x683.webp\")
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<\/a>Types of natural diamonds by genesis<\/h2>\n\n\n
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Physical Types and Colors of Diamonds<\/h2>\n\n\n
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Industrial classification: GOST and types of diamonds by purpose<\/h2>\n\n\n
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Types of artificial diamonds: HPHT and CVD<\/h2>\n\n\n
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<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n![\"Rice.](\"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/ris.-2.2-1.webp\")
<\/a><\/figure>\nWhat four classifications say about stone<\/h2>\n\n\n