Monday, June 29, 2015

[Geology2] Park visitor unearths 8.52-carat diamond in Arkansas



Park visitor unearths 8.52-carat diamond in Arkansas

By Jareen Imam, CNN

Sat June 27, 2015





An 8.52-carat diamond was discovered in Arkansas' Crater of Diamonds State Park on Wednesday.
An 8.52-carat diamond was discovered in Arkansas' Crater of Diamonds State Park on Wednesday.

Story highlights

  • An 8.52-carat diamond was discovered in Arkansas' Crater of Diamonds State Park on Wednesday
  • The gem is the fifth largest diamond to be discovered by a visitor at the park
  • About 30 diamonds have been discovered at Crater of Diamonds State Park this year

(CNN)A glistening, white diamond half the size of a quarter was discovered at Arkansas' Crater of Diamonds State Park on Wednesday, park officials said.

Shaped like an icicle, the 8.25-carat gem is the fifth-largest diamond found by a visitor to the state park since the site was established in 1972.

Park visitor Bobbie Oskarson of Longmont, Colorado, discovered the diamond while digging around the Pig Pen, a 37-acre search field inside the park named for its muddy terrain after rainfall.

The large white diamond was found by Bobbie Oskarson of Longmont, Colorado, at  Crater of Diamonds State Park.
The large white diamond was found by Bobbie Oskarson of Longmont, Colorado, at Crater of Diamonds State Park.

At first she thought the diamond was a quartz crystal because of its size and shape, but a park staffer confirmed later that it was indeed a diamond.

"Ms. Oskarson and her boyfriend Travis Dillon saw the Crater of Diamonds State Park on an Arkansas highway map while in the nearby town of Hot Springs and decided to visit the park. And what a lucky first visit it was for her!" park interpreter Waymon Cox said in a press release.

Oskarson named her find the Esperanza Diamond, after her niece, and plans to keep the gem.

2-carat diamond found in Arkansas park

More than 30 diamonds have been discovered in the park's search area this year. Cox said above-normal rainfall this year is one reason for the frequent finds.

"Rain, plus the regular plowing of the search field by our maintenance staff, increases visitors' chances of finding diamonds in the search area," he said.

Oskarson named her find the Esperanza Diamond. (Note the diamond on the Arkansas commemorative quarter.)
Oskarson named her find the Esperanza Diamond. (Note the diamond on the Arkansas commemorative quarter.)

More than 75,000 diamonds have been unearthed in the park since the first diamonds were discovered there in 1906.

The largest rough diamond ever discovered in Crater of Diamonds State Park (and the largest ever found in the United States) is the Uncle Sam Diamond, which was found in 1924 and was a hefty 40.23 carats, according to the park website.

No estimate of the Esperanza Diamond's value was available, but just for perspective's sake, the Uncle Sam Diamond was cut twice, the second being a 12.42-carat gem that sold for $150,000 in 1971 (about $880,000 adjusted for inflation).

The search area at the Crater of Diamonds, where visitors can hunt for gems, is one the world's only diamond-producing sites that is open to the public. The park exercises a "finders keepers" policy.

Park staffers help to identify the and register the diamonds, and even provide instructions on how to recognize these precious stones in the rough.

So far this year, 227 diamonds have been registered at the park.

3.69-carat diamond found in Arkansas park

http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/27/us/8-52-carat-diamond-arkansas/



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