The world's biggest jeweller, Pandora, says it will no longer sell mined diamonds and will switch to exclusively laboratory-made diamonds. Concerns about the environment and working practices in the mining industry have led to growing demand for alternatives to mined diamonds, reports BBC. Pandora's chief executive, Alexander Lacik, told the BBC the change was part of a broader sustainability drive. He said the firm was pursuing it because "it's the right thing to do". They are also cheaper: "We can essentially create the same outcome as nature has created, but at a very, very different price." Mr Lacik explains they can be made for as little as "a third of what it is for something that we've dug up from the ground." In 2020, worldwide lab-grown diamond production grew to between 6 and 7 million carats. Meanwhile the production of mined diamonds fell to 111 million carats last year, having peaked at 152 million in 2017, according to a report from the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) and the consultancy Bain & Company. Production fell most in Russia, Canada, Botswana and Australia. The coronavirus pandemic has had a major impact on the diamond industry. De Beers, which produces about one-fifth of the world's mined diamonds, says production fell 18% last year. Economic uncertainty and lockdowns led to a slump in demand and falling prices, although there has been something of a recovery since. Sales boost? Pandora's lab-made diamonds are being made in Britain, and the UK is the first country where they will be sold. The new diamond jewellery will start at £250 ($350). Although diamonds have traditionally only been a very small share of the 100 million pieces Pandora sells worldwide each year, Mr Lacik believes that will be boosted by lower prices. "Pandora jewellery today is much more of an everyday type of jewellery, even though a large proportion of it is gifted. The way the diamond industry has kind of been created to a large degree has been very much about gifting, and in particular around when people get engaged or married". "We're trying to open up this playing field and say, you know, with the type of value equation that we offer, you can use this everyday if you want."