Digging up diamonds worth tens of thousands of dollars

USA The 1.90 carat brown diamond found in the park contains lamproite volcanic rock, said to be "1 in 15 million".

Jessica and Seth Erickson with a 1.90 carat diamond. Photo: Arkansas State Parks/Crater of Diamonds State Park

Couple Jessica and Seth Erickson, living in Chatfield, Minnesota, visited Crater of Diamonds Park, Arkansas, on the occasion of their 10th wedding anniversary, Newsweek reported on November 11 . On the morning of November 4, while digging and sifting through the soil in the park, they discovered a gem with a special color.

The couple then took the gem to the park's Diamond Discovery Center and it was determined to be a 1.90 carat brown diamond. They named the diamond HIMO after their children.

Crater of Diamonds is located about 95 km east of the Arkansas - Oklahoma border. This is the only public diamond mine in the world where people can go to hunt for diamonds.

"The park contains lamproite, a type of volcanic rock. Lamproite and kimberlite are common reservoirs of diamonds. High-speed eruptions bring material from a depth of tens of kilometers to the surface, including diamonds ", said Nicolas Flament, a geologist and geophysicist at the University of Wollongong.

"The park is well located in a geologically interesting area. It houses a volcanic tube. These 'pipes' are ancient volcanoes. The structures in the park are approximately 95 million years old. Kimberlite and lamproite tubes can contain diamonds. These types of volcanoes originate deep in the Earth's crust - where diamonds can form. Diamond-bearing kimberlite and lamproite are relatively rare and we only find them 60/7000 pipelines are economically viable in the world", explains Denis Fougerouse, economic and structural geologist at Curtin University.

According to the Crater of Diamonds website, people find one or two diamonds at this 15.18 hectare park every day. To date, 581 diamonds have been registered in 2022 and more than 33,100 diamonds have been discovered since 1972, when the park opened. Uncle Sam, the largest 40.23 carat diamond ever dug in the US, was also discovered in this park in 1924.

"Most diamonds are small (less than 1 carat), so the larger the diamond, the rarer it is. The quality and color are also very diverse. Since the volcanic tube is fixed in the rock, this area is subject to erosion and causes scattered diamonds. It is now a park and is periodically plowed to control vegetation and expose new soil," said a spokesman for the Geological Survey of the Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment, explain. Several attempts at commercial mining in the area have been made but have failed.

Finding diamonds with the same color and size as Jessica and Seth Erickson's is very rare. "One in a million stones is 1 carat, and only one in 15 million is 2 carats," Flament said.

"Diamonds over 1 carat account for less than 3% of those found at Crater of Diamonds. Therefore, this is a rare and special find," said Jim Houran, diamond collector and frequent visitor to the Crater. park, said.

When treated and cut, a 1.90 carat clear diamond costs an average of nearly $25,000. However, diamond volume will be lost during the cutting process and prices will also vary depending on color.

Thu Thao (According to Newsweek )

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