Scio Diamond Doubles Diamond-Growing Capacity

CEO fulfills pledge to increase production capacity of manufacturing facility

GREENVILLE, SC  – Scio Diamond Technology Corporation (OTCBB: SCIO) today said it will complete a manufacturing expansion in May that will more than double its capacity to create lab-grown diamonds. The company is refitting its current diamond-growing reactors with larger growing platforms and also adding new reactors.

Scio Diamond produces high quality, single-crystal, Type IIa lab grown diamonds for jewelry and industrial applications. The company produces 3-5 carat rough gems that are finished into 1-2 carat stones and polished for jewelry or sliced and shaped for industrial applications.

Plans to double production capacity at the company’s facility in Greenville, SC began when the company closed$2.5 million in growth funding from Heritage Gemstone Investors (HGI) in December 2014. HGI is a group of investors in Greenville, SC that includes Vivian Wong, William Coleman, and Sudhirkumar C. Patel, MD.

“We had already committed our production levels to existing customers, while demand for our lab-grown diamonds was growing quickly,” explained Gerald McGuire, CEO. “This expansion will let us produce more than twice the amount of diamonds we were producing just three months ago.”

Scio Diamond grows diamond crystals in a range of colors. Colorless stones are used for jewelry and industrial applications such as optical windows, laser scalpels or electronics. Pinks are used for jewelry and precision milling and grinding.

Scio Diamond was a pioneer in developing the technology behind lab-grown diamonds, and grows diamonds in just three to four weeks. The only difference between Scio diamonds and mined diamonds is that some are grown in a lab above the ground and some are mined out of the ground. Lab-grown diamonds are a sustainable resource, unlike mined diamonds, which are diminishing in supply.

About Scio Diamond

Scio Diamond employs a patent-protected chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process to produce high-quality, single-crystal colorless and fancy color diamonds in a controlled laboratory setting for the jewelry market and industrial applications.  Lab-grown diamonds are chemically, physically and optically identical to earth-mined diamonds. Scio’s technology offers the flexibility to produce lab-grown diamonds in size, color and quality combinations that are rare in mined diamonds.  www.ScioDiamond.com