What does Conflict Free mean to us?

At Laraci Ethical Fine Jewelery the definition of a conflict free engagement ring is that neither the environment, nor any living thing has suffered through any part of the raw material sourcing or manufacturing process. This is why we choose to sell lab created Moissanite engagement rings and not diamonds. A natural diamond has varying degrees of conflict attached to it. We have all heard of blood diamonds (diamonds that fund rebel wars) but there are many others suffering from mining industry activity that have not had a movie made about them. These people go virtually unnoticed by the general population. These conflicts vary from the severe human atrocities (beatings, mutilations, rapes & torture) to slavery and child labour.

The environmental damages associated with mining are also many - from the toxic chemicals that are used for extraction to the heavy metals that deposit on the surrounding areas and in the surrounding bodies of water to the insurmountable amount of toxic waste that is created. Dynamite and cyanide are used in gold mining, with disastrous affects to local drinking water and wildlife. In more civilized areas where mines are constructed wildlife is relocated but in a great majority the animals are left to fend for themselves, often with sad endings as the toxic chemicals that are used in mining travel far down the rivers and streams into the animals drinking water as well as local towns and villages (these disasters are also a first world problem as recently as 2015 in Colorado at the Gold King Mine) . Mining also produces heavy metals that travel through the air harming all wildlife: people, plants.& animals in its vicinity. In many of the poorest regions of Africa where the locals made a living farming the mines moved in and destroyed their farmlands. The soils and water are poisoned from the deposit of heavy metals and left infertile, no longer able to sustain crops.

While we all would like to believe that in our promise of forever that the token of our love does not harm others or the environment, clearly the evidence is to the contrary.

Choosing something other than a diamond might be easier than you think. Lab created Moissanite has better color and clarity than most natural diamonds available today and at a fraction of the cost. The silicon carbide that moissanite is made of is tougher than a diamond so it is more resistant to chipping and fracturing. Moissanite is only slightly less hard than a diamond (9.25-9.5 vs 10 on the Mohs scale) which is its scratch resistance. Due to the fact that moissanite is lab created it has less flaws than a real diamond allowing a moissanite to have a perfect cut. The perfect cut of a moissanite results in a more beautiful sparkly stone with double the refraction of a diamond and at a 10th of the price!