Mining
The World of Coloured Diamonds
The World of Coloured Diamonds
Quality diamonds with size, brilliance, and clarity are hard to find as it is. Add in colouration, which can occur mainly because of structural anomalies in the diamond crystal or certain impurities, and that diamond is even rarer.
It turns out the vast majority of diamonds (98.1%) are classified as Type 1 and have nitrogen as an impurity. This can make them white, yellow or brown in colour. The rest are classified as Type 2, and these make up the category of “more desired” coloured diamonds.
Structural anomalies can make these diamonds yellow, brown, orange, pink, red, or purple in colour. A small amount instead have boron as an impurity, which can make the diamonds blue or grey. Green diamonds can also occur if a diamond of another colour is exposed to radiation in a certain way.
Many hard assets investors consider things such as rare coins, paintings, or coloured diamonds as another way to preserve wealth. The rarity and uniqueness of these assets make them something special. While not fungible or a medium of exchange like something such as pure gold or silver, they do tend to hold their value over time. Things such as coloured diamonds also are extremely portable, which gives them a the advantage of wealth mobility over cash or other bullion.
Original graphic from: Excalibur Royale
Copper
Brass Rods: The Secure Choice
This graphic shows why brass rods are the secure choice for precision-machined and forged parts.
Brass Rods: The Secure Choice
The unique combination of machinability and recyclability makes brass rods the secure choice for manufacturers seeking future-proof raw material solutions.
This infographic, from the Copper Development Association, shows three ways brass rods give manufacturers greater control and a license to grow in the competitive market for precision-machined and forged products.
Future-Proof Investments in New Machine Tools
A material’s machinability directly impacts machine throughput, which typically has the largest impact on machine shop profitability.
The high-speed machining capabilities of brass rods maximize machine tool performance, allowing manufacturers to run the material faster and longer without sacrificing tool life, chip formation, or surface quality.
The high machining efficiency of brass leads to reduced per-part costs, quicker return on investment (ROI) for new machine tools, and expanded production capacity for new projects.
Supply Security Through Closed Loop Recycling
Brass, like its parent element copper, can be infinitely recycled.
In 2022, brass- and wire-rod mills accounted for the majority of the 830,000 tonnes of copper recycled from scrap in the United States.
Given that scrap ratios for machined parts typically range from 60-70% by weight, producing mills benefit from a secure and steady supply of clean scrap returned directly from customers, which is recycled to create new brass rods.
The high residual value of brass scrap creates a strong recycling incentive. Scrap buy back programs give manufacturers greater control over raw material net costs as scrap value is often factored into supplier purchase agreements.
Next Generation Alloys for a Lead-Free Future
Increasingly stringent global regulations continue to pressure manufacturers to minimize the use of materials containing trace amounts of lead and other harmful impurities.
The latest generation of brass-rod alloys is engineered to meet the most demanding criteria for lead leaching in drinking water and other sensitive applications.
Seven brass-rod alloys passed rigorous testing to become the only ‘Acceptable Materials’ against lower lead leaching criteria recently adopted in the national U.S. drinking water quality standard, NSF 61.
Learn more about the advantages of brass rods solutions.
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