The world's largest diamond miner is doing the unthinkable: Selling stones produced in a laboratory.

世界最大钻石开采商正在做一件难以想象的事情：出售实验室环境中制造出来的钻石。

De Beers launched a new jewelry¹ brand last Tuesday that features synthetic² diamonds, a major reversal for a company that had implored³ consumers to stick with "real" stones.

戴比尔斯上周二发布了一款新的珠宝品牌，产品主打人造钻石。这家公司之前一直恳求消费者坚持购买“真正的”钻石，如今，他们的经营战略出现重大转折。

The brand, called Lightbox, will offer synthetic diamonds at a fraction of the price it charges for stones pulled out of the earth. De Beers framed the move as a response to consumer demands.

这一名为“灯箱”的珠宝品牌将提供人造钻石，价格仅为天然钻石的一个零头。戴比尔斯称此举是为了满足消费者的需求。

"Lightbox will transform the lab-grown diamond sector⁴ by offering consumers a lab-grown product they have told us they want but aren't getting: affordable⁵ fashion jewelry that may not be forever, but is perfect for right now," said De Beers CEO Bruce Cleaver⁶.

戴比尔斯首席执行官布鲁斯.克利佛说：“灯箱品牌将向消费者提供他们想要但是却无法从现有市场获取的产品，从而改变人造钻石行业。来自实验室价格低廉的时尚珠宝可能无法恒久远，但至少此时此刻是完美的。”

Jewelry from the brand will go on sale in September. De Beers said prices will start at $200 for a quarter carat, and increase to $800 for a full carat stone. The company's natural stones start at roughly 10 times that amount, depending on their clarity and other attributes.

该品牌的珠宝将于9月份开始销售。戴比尔斯表示，人造钻石起价为1/4克拉200美元（1300元人民币），1克拉价格为800美元。该公司的天然宝石起价约为人造钻石的10倍，具体价格取决于它们的净度和其他方面的品质。

De Beers had been an outspoken⁷ critic of synthetic diamonds. Company executives vowed⁸ never to sell artificial stones, and it participated in the diamond industry's "real is rare" campaign. It even developed a machine that spots lab-grown stones.

戴比尔斯一直是人造钻石直言不讳的批评者。公司高层曾誓言永远不会出售人造宝石，并参与了钻石行业的“真才难得”活动。该公司甚至发明了一种能够辨别出实验室合成钻石的仪器。

"De Beers' focus is on natural diamonds," Simon Lawson, the current head of research and development at De Beers, told Bloomberg in 2015. "We would not do anything that would cannibalize that industry."

“戴比尔斯的重心是天然钻石，”戴比尔斯现任研发负责人西蒙.劳森2015年告诉彭博社说，“我们不会做任何有损这一行业的事情。”

Synthetic diamonds, which can be produced in about 500 hours, share the same physical, chemical and optical characteristics as natural stones. But they are not nearly as valuable.

约500小时就可以生产出一批人造钻石，它们与天然宝石具有相同的物理、化学和光学特性，但两者的价值却有天壤之别。

De Beers has produced synthetic diamonds for years through a subsidiary called Element Six, but it has limited their use to industrial applications.

戴比尔斯多年来一直通过一家名为Element Six的子公司生产人造钻石，但限制其只能应用于工业生产。

The new synthetic diamonds will come in pink, blue and white, and the stones will contain a tiny Lightbox logo. De Beers said the logo won't be visible to the naked eye, but it will make the stones easily identifiable as lab-grown.

即将发售的人造钻石的颜色有粉色、蓝色和白色，钻石上会刻有“灯箱”品牌的标识。戴比尔斯表示，这一标识肉眼无法看到，但让人造钻石很容易被辨别出来。

De Beers said it would invest $94 million over four years to build a new synthetic diamond production facility near Portland, Oregon.

戴比尔斯称，未来四年内将投资9400万美元，在俄勒冈州波特兰市附近建一个新的人造钻石生产基地。