Oct 17 2012
Scio Diamond Technology announced today that it has surpassed the 4,000 mark in the production of useable carats. These CVD diamond crystals are now either in the hands of our customers, working through the fabrication cycle or have contributed to Scio's self-sustaining diamond seed stock.
"It is always exciting to meet or beat milestones that define the vision of the company. Using a mass production strategy, we have exceeded our expectations for diamond growth," says Joseph Lancia , Scio's President and CEO. "We are optimizing our current recipe technology for growth per hour, which has been key in our rapid increase in production."
Mike McMahon , Scio's COO, says, "in addition to adjusting our recipes as Joe explains, we are increasing our seed count per grow. In the beginning we were using 12 seeds per grow as we came on line in July. For the past few weeks we have increased the seed count to an average of 25 per growth and are currently loading growers with up to 40 seeds per reactor."
"The result of this accelerated approach to mass production with high quality material, using our current average carat growth and seed count, is an annualized 24,000 carats per year," says Lancia. "The demand for industrial diamond continues at a high level. When we finalize our phasing of 40 seeds per reactor, we will be at an annualized carat production rate of 36-38,000. For every additional seed we put above 40 on the growing table, we gain a little over 900 additional carats per year."
"Growing in sync with our growth capability is our internal laser capability. Our first diamond laser is installed and is cutting diamond for seeds 24/7," says McMahon. Current laser operation output exceeds 800 seeds per month plus special projects. Five additional lasers are scheduled for installation and operation by the end of the calendar year."
Source: http://www.sciodiamond.com