Leonardo DiCaprio’s new business: he will “grow” diamonds in Spain

To grow inside a factory in a few days what nature is capable of creating on its own in hundreds of years. It is the idea of ​​an American company which has set its sights on Extremadura, and on the 3000 hours of sunshine it offers per year, to manufacture one of the most sought-after gemstones in the world: the diamond. It already does in the United States, but now Diamond Foundry, an American company that emerged in Silicon Valley a decade ago and has actor Leonardo DiCaprio as an investor, wants to open up to the European market from the city of Cáceres de Trujillo.

Since he starred in the film Blood Diamond in 2006, Dicaprio, an actor as well known as a deep activist, has been repelled by obtaining diamonds in Africa under conditions of semi-slavery to finance armed conflicts, so he has decided to invest, a decade later (2015), in Diamond Foundry.

The The company is proposing an investment of 670 million euros to build an industry covering more than 30,000 square meters in which it will implement cutting-edge technology to “cultivate” this expensive and coveted mineral. it can come as a shock in the tech industry. Because if Diamond Foundry has until now devoted itself to the manufacture of synthetic diamonds for jewelry (it has its own brand of jewelry), the ‘Extremadura’ will be intended for industrial use. They will be made in diamond crystal sheets or chips and will be used as semiconductors for circuits or chips, which will allow improvements in the field of electronics and high technology, in particular 5G and electric cars, in due to their exceptional hardness and thermal conductivity properties. . “Di Caprio diamonds” could even become a good alternative to electronic chips as they are known until today, rare and in great demand today, which are made mainly with silicon.

To create the Diamonds of Extremadura, 600 reactors will be installed which will operate thanks to a self-consumption photovoltaic plant of 120 megawatts with 60 megawatts of batteries. to be built by Powen Energías Renovables, also promoter of the project, with the plant. “It is something absolutely avant-garde and an opportunity to reindustrialize Spain”, underlines Rafael Benjumea, boss of Powen. Ultimately, these will be diamonds that will grow thanks to the sun of Trujillo.

The company was founded in 2012 by entrepreneurs Martin Roscheisen and Jeremy Scholz and has managed to raise nearly $ 100 million from investors who see this technology as a viable alternative to obtaining diamonds for the jewelry industry in apart from mines, many of which are located in developing countries. countries in appalling working conditions.

The Extremadura industrial project has the support of the Junta de Extremadura and the Ministry of Industry, it will require approximately one and a half years of administrative and permit procedures and two years of construction., but it could start working before the first year of construction, as it will be built in modules. They estimate around 300 direct jobs in the region.

It was in June that the agreement was signed between Industry and the Junta de Extremadura and the American company, thus giving direct work to around 300 people. Guillermo Fernández Vara, president of the Junta de Extremadura, then declared that “the region of Extremadura is the best place in the world to carry out this project” and has increased its natural resources, which DiCaprio has been able to value, as he does. with so many of its companies, in which it invests, especially if they create innovative projects that protect the environment, take care of endangered species and secure the future of endangered communities.

In addition to being an actor and defender of the environment, he is also an entrepreneur. He has invested in fair trade businesses like Runa, a brand that distributes organic teas and natural energy drinks made from a plant native to Ecuador called guayusa. About 3,000 indigenous families cultivate it and the company hires them directly. The objective is to ensure the future of these communities.

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