LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A guest at Arkansas' Crater of Diamonds State Park got quite the surprise after they found a 2.30 carat white diamond in the park's diamond search area in September!
The diamond was found on Friday, Sept. 27 and is the third diamond registered over 2 carats and the second largest diamond that's been registered at the park in 2024.
According to park officials, the guests rented out a basic kit from the Diamond Discovery Center and began the day wet sifting to search for diamonds.
After spending hours wet sifting with no results, the guests decided to switch to surface searching instead.
Park officials said that many of the park's largest diamonds are actually found on the surface.
"We periodically plow the search area to loosen the diamond-bearing soil and promote natural erosion," Assistant Park Superintendent Waymon Cox said. "As rain falls on the field, it washes away the dirt and uncovers heavy rocks, minerals and diamonds near the surface.”
Park officials said that the conditions for surface searching were "ideal" on Sept. 27 as the search area had recently been plowed and rainfall had occurred just two days prior — additionally it was a sunny day which made the diamonds even more noticeable.
The guests walked around the park until they made it just west of the covered North Wash pavilion. That's when they noticed something sparkling from the ground.
“From far away it shined so clearly,” the guests said. “I thought it might be a piece of trash or a bug — it was so much shinier than anything else out there.”
After walking over, the guests immediately recognized that it wasn't trash, but instead something far more valuable.
They put the stone in their pocket and went to get it checked at the Rock and Mineral Identification Counter.
“Even after a few years of working here, I am still surprised when a finder pulls a large diamond out of their pocket so nonchalantly.” Park Interpreter Sarah Reap said.
Reap later confirmed to the guest that they had found a diamond weighing over two carats.
So far, there have been 548 diamonds registered by park guests in 2024, weighing more than 82 carats. According to park officials, an average of 1-2 diamonds are found each day.
