10 replies to this topic

[fourkeeps]

Has anyone ever found real diamonds in arkansas? I didn't know the US had mines.

My date is getting closer!! YAY!!!! Can't wait.

Hugs,
fourkeeps

[TheRock]

Yes, people have found many diamonds in Arkansas! Crater of Diamonds State Park has been open to the public since 1906 and during that time there have been over 75,000 stones discovered.

There have been some big stones unearthed. There is the Uncle Sam Diamond, a 40.23Ct which is the largest ever found in the USA, a 16.37Ct Amarillo starlight, a 15.33Ct Star of Arkansas and many others including a 1.00+Ct D IF.

That said, the national park is not a mine. The national park service regularly turns over the soil in certain areas of the park and the public can pan for diamonds. If they find one, it's there’s.

I can’t find confirmation at the moment but I am sure that I've heard that there are a few small mines in the Colorado area. I guess that's just hearsay at the moment. Maybe Jan can Add something if she knows.

Diamonds are popping up all over the world now. Detection of diamondiferous material is getting better every year. Look at our neighbors to the north. Canada will soon be number two in the world in diamond production.

[jan]

Yes there is a small mine in Colorado that was discovered by a Geologist. Last I heard, he had 12 workers working the mine 24 hours a day. 6 in the day and 6 at night. The interesting note on this mine is that before it was discovered, someone had been selling bogus diamond stocks to people claiming that there was a mine there. The mine was discovered not too long ago, but very near to where they were selling interests in the other mine that didn't exist.


Jan

[TheRock]

Just found a couple pictures of the "Uncle Sam" diamond. The first is how it looked in it's Rough form and the second is after it was cut.

[highfly]

OMG I can't even imagine what that 40ct beauty must look like in real life.

I wonder what would something like that would be worth?

[nightmare]

well I was going to buy Mrs Nightmare the bra from Victoria secrets which ahd a 60ct pear cut diamond in the centre...believe they claimed it was flawless...a emre 10 million dollars for that one!

[JamesAllen]

That's one expensive bra......

[smittywrestler]

How can I do the Arkansas mining thing. Do you have to have a reservation or something. That sounds like a fun vacation for my gorlfriend and myself to take.

[highfly]

CRATER OF DIAMONDS State Park is one of the few parks in the country that caters to rockhounds! And the only site where you can pay a small fee and keep any diamond and other lapidary materials you collect in the world.

Around 100 million years ago, the lazy southern coastline in what is now central Pike County, AR, suddenly exploded, creating a crater some 80 acres in size. After this eruption, small pyroclastic cones developed in the crater and spewed out ash and lapilli (small molten rock fragments). Some of the ash mixed with sediments from the adjacent Trinity Formation, forming lake sediments on the east margin of the crater and at scattered sites across the depression. Then came a magma from deep in the earth, filling part of the depression with a lava lake. This sequence of events took awhile, but only a wink of an eye in geologic time.

The lamproite breccia tuff that formed in the explosion carried diamonds from deep in the earth (in the upper mantle) and rapidly brought these crystals to the surface. Although the lamproite magma originated from the same depth, it moved slowly enough for the magma to resorb the diamonds. Hence, it is not considered a source of diamonds at the site, either in the rock or the soil developed from it. Recent exploration demonstrated that there are some 78.5 million tons of diamond-bearing rock to sort through, so it will be awhile before the tourists and rockhounds deplete this diamond storehouse!

Since the diamond-bearing pipe and the adjoining area became a state park in 1972, over 21,000 diamonds have been recovered. The Park Museum has a series of educational displays and a slide presentation for first-time visitors. They also rent screens and a variety of small digging and scratching tools to assist the visitor in finding a diamond. You may also bring in your own equipment, on the condition you carry it out that night. No wheeled equipment is allowed.

If you only have a short time to visit, an afternoon or so, your best chance to find a diamond is by either surface searching or, if it is dry, then by surface screening. Dry dirt does not stick to a diamond, so it will be loose in the soil. Once you know what a diamond crystal looks like, you can sort out the various bits of calcite, barite, quartz crystals, and fragments of broken glass that you will find on your screen. Don't be fooled by the many tiny flakes of sparkly mica (phlogopite) that seem to be everywhere. The site is collected by local professional collectors, who spend a lot of time washing and screening gravels to recover diamonds. Although tourists only find a diamond for every 100 hours of searching, it is encouraging that the tourists typically find the larger stones. You can help your odds if you can visit immediately after a heavy rain. Rain exposes diamonds in the soil.

[url="http://rockhoundingar.com/locations/craterofD.html"][url]http://rockhoundingar.com/locations/craterofD.html[/url][/url]

[fourkeeps]

okay, now I know more than I ever thought possible! Thanks Highfly!


64 days and counting! Yay!

[jan]

Sounds like a blast. Let us know how your trip goes and what you find.



Jan
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