Diamonds, they say, are forever - and a new invention that can turn human remains into sparkling gems may allow us to shine from the grave. Ron Laytner writes

Paulina Cayia is still beautiful at 80 and she wants to stay that way forever. When she dies, she will not be buried or cremated and have her ashes scattered or kept in an urn. Cayia is going to be turned into diamond, to be treasured by the children she will be leaving behind.

Francesca Rodriguez of Miami worries that her old and beloved dog, Chico Mio, will die soon. But he won't be gone forever. She will have Chico Mio cremated and saved as a diamond ring.

The two Florida women are planning to take advantage of an American invention that will change the way loved ones are remembered.

In time, Irish fans of Elvis Presley might be wearing diamond bracelets made from the King's remains. Gamblers could be wearing lucky rings made from favourite race horses. There might even someday be a priceless Princess Diana Diamond or one of Elton John.

LifeGem, a Chicago-based company, turns the cremated remains of people and pets into top gem-quality diamonds by separating the graphite from the carbon in their ashes, then heating and crushing it at the sort of extreme temperature and pressure found at the Earth's core. The process is similar to the one that turns coal into diamonds, except it takes nature millions of years and LifeGem just two months.

It is a new and dramatic way to take care of the dead. The number of modern cremations has leapt since Jeanette Pickersgill of Woking, southern England, started the trend in the West in 1885. In the past 30 years, the number of cremations worldwide has tripled: 700,000 a year take place in America alone.

"For 2,000 years, grieving families have had two options, burial or cremation, to commemorate a loved one's life," says Gregg Herro, head of LifeGem Memorials in Chicago.

"Now a thimbleful of ash can be made into a dazzling diamond worth $4,000 and of the same quality as you would find at Tiffany's. And for $22,000 you can have a larger, one-carat diamond made. It's a perfect engagement ring for someone who thinks their dead mother was a real gem. Pets also can be saved in diamonds of varying colours for about $4,000."

Man-made diamonds have been manufactured since the 1950s, when General Electric started making them for industrial use. High-quality diamonds have been made since the mid-1990s and today they are virtually indistinguishable from natural diamonds - a fact that upsets diamond-mining monopoly De Beers of South Africa.

Among the man-made diamond manufacturers is Lucent Diamonds Corporation, whose owner, Alex Grizenko, runs the production side of LifeGem. Grizenko (50) has been doing business in Russia since 1987 and began making diamonds near Moscow.

The artificial gems produced by Lucent and other manufacturers are so close to perfect, De Beers is considering putting a trademark on each of its diamonds. It has already set up a Gem Defence Laboratory outside London to teach those in the industry how to find the differences between man-made and natural stones.

Natural gems are expensive because, on average, 250 tonnes of rock have to be shifted to find one good natural diamond. And because De Beers, which is involved with almost every diamond mine on Earth, can control the gem supply to the market.

But even De Beers has ventured down the man-made route and discovered, to its horror, that diamonds can be made as large as 22 carats. Now the monopoly is facing a new threat: memorial diamonds. Ranging in size from one-quarter to one-and-a-half carats, LifeGem diamonds are certified by the European Gemological Laboratory in New York.

"Diamonds are diamonds, whether they are man-made or produced by nature," Grizenko says. "We have refocused most of our production to LifeGem and are planning the first LifeGem production centres in the US and Japan to open in 2003. Japan, with its population of 127 million, will be the world's largest market because it has a 96 per cent cremation rate."

The idea of turning humans into diamonds came when Randy Vandenbeisen, who now works with LifeGem, realized diamonds and humans are both made of carbon. He set up LifeGem with his brother Dean and first proved the concept of diamond memorials by secretly testing the system on animals, then cadavers. "We now have thousands of inquiries coming in from all over the world," Grizenko says.

Company technicians collect the carbon created when a body is cremated and extract the graphite. The firm's prospects improved 10-fold when it was realized that the remains of the long dead can be turned into diamonds, using either ashes kept in an urn or by exhuming and cremating buried remains.

A typical body, newly cremated using LifeGem standards, can yield several stones because the carbon is fully collected instead of going up in smoke as it does in typical cremations. "When someone dies they will be shipped to a funeral home with cremation facilities," explains Grizenko. "Using our technology, they will save the person's carbon. There is enough carbon in a normal body to make at least 10 diamonds."

Grizenko says high-content carbon remains will be stored at a LifeGem centre so family members can continue to order diamonds. A one-carat memorial diamond costs about $22,000 (about twice as much as an average natural stone). "The process is expensive," says Grizenko, "because producing a high-clarity diamond ties up our costly presses."

One of the firm's latest projects is redesigning the diamond-making presses into more dignified-looking machines. "We are talking about beloved human beings whose families want them commemorated in great dignity," he says. LifeGem says it has been contacted by several famous people, industrialists and celebrities who want to be remembered forever. "Someday fans will be wearing rings made from the remains of world stars as famous as Mick Jagger or Michael Jackson," Grizenko says. "How many scientists and teachers would love to wear a diamond ring made from the remains of Albert Einstein?

"Right now, LifeGem is a very small part of our business. We think it will soon be the thrust of everything we do. We are looking for representation in every country. We hope to begin a new era in the way human beings deal with death. Instead of leaving our loved ones in a cold grave or in an urn on an empty shelf, we will keep them forever with us as a diamond, reminding us of their beauty in life. Death no longer has to be a final parting."

For more information visit www.LifeGem.com or call US 920 303 9604.