Element Six, subsidiary of De Beers Group has commenced work on its proposed lab-grown diamonds factory in Gresham, Oregon.

The said factory is expected to commence production of lab-grown diamonds in 2020. Once functional, the facility is expected to product 500K carats of rough diamonds per year for Lightbox Jewelry.

De Beers Group is reportedly investing a total of US$94 million over four years in the production facility, adding to Element Six’s existing UK-based facilities.

In May, De Beers in a statement had mentioned that Lightbox will be the only jewellery brand to source lab-grown diamonds from De Beers Group’s Element Six business. Lightbox will launch in the US and will initially be available to US-based consumers through the Lightbox e-commerce website, with retail partnerships to be announced in due course.

(Above Image: A model of the Element Six factory in Oregon/Image Coutesy: twitter.com/lightboxjewelry)