Arkansas diamond mystery

Diamond Crater National Park in Arkansas, visitors can pay an entrance fee of $7, pick up a shovel and try their hand at diamond exploration. The rule is "seeker-guardian". In the past three years, the number of annual visits has tripled to 17,. In 27, tourists extracted more than 1, gems from the ground. Some tourists use a special screen called seruca to clean and separate heavier diamonds and lighter fragments. Others just knelt down and squinted in the furrow looking for jewelry. This 8-acre park brings people hope. Although the hope is slim, almost everyone can make it rich. Unfortunately, this park may also be tempted by mineralogical pranks.

Eric Black, a 33-year-old carpenter, has been drilling holes two or three times a year since his grandfather took him there for the first time when he was a teenager. In October 27, his efforts finally paid off. He found a 3.9-carat boulder, almost as big as the Kahn Canary diamond borrowed by Hillary Clinton at the inauguration ceremony of her Arkansas-born husband. This is a rare discovery, which is enough to attract national attention. It is reported that Blake found this slender white diamond on a small road. At that time, he was throwing something into a 7-pound bucket of dirt and gravel, and he was going to clean it up.

If it can be proved that this lucky stone comes from soil in Arkansas, its value may be as high as 8 dollars. In the year after his discovery, collectors, park managers and law enforcement officers began to wonder how Blake and his family found an unprecedented 32 diamonds in less than a week.

"We are concerned not only with the integrity of the park, but also with the integrity of Arkansas," said Tom Stolarz, the park keeper, who caught a glimpse of diamonds when Blake was about to leave the park. Although Stolaz is not a geologist, he has worked in the park for 26 years, handled more than 1, diamonds, and paid special attention to big stones. Black's rough gem is indeed a diamond in Stolaz's view, but is it an American diamond? " The answer is more important than people think. Diamonds are nothing more than crystalline carbon, which can now be produced economically in the laboratory. But these diamonds fascinate people; The diamond exhibition at the National Museum of Natural History, featuring Hope diamonds, is one of the most popular destinations of the Smithsonian Institution. For many diamond buyers, history lovers and an eccentric subculture specializing in diamond hunters, the place of origin is everything.

diamonds were discovered in Arkansas in August 196, when a farmer named John Wesley Huddleston found a "sparkling pebble" on his property. The next year, * * * described the treasure of "Diamond John" in epic language: "The story of finding a diamond field in the poorest county in Arkansas reads like a chapter of Sinbad's adventure."

More than 1, dreamers flocked to nearby Mufrisboro to fill the crumbling Conway Hotel and build a tent city between the town and the diamond field. Mike Howard of the Arkansas Geological Survey says life is not easy. ""Many people came and few people found them, "he said." Most diamonds disappeared within a few years. "At that time, most diamonds in Arkansas, like now, were below 1 cents, that is, about 1/1 carat. But in 1924, a lucky miner pulled a 4-carat monster from the ground. This diamond, named Uncle Sam, is still the largest diamond found in the United States, and it shines in the eyes of every miner.

in the past century, many interesting things have happened in the diamond field. According to the investigation of the Ministry of Justice, after the London-based diamond group failed to completely control the area in 191, it was said that it set up a false operation to dilute the potential of the mine and destroy production. In 1919, two competitors' processing plants were burned to ashes on the same January night, which fueled the rumor that someone was trying to destroy the profits of coal mines. S was as smooth and round as a drop of glass and was the hardest in the world. They come in three colors: white, yellow and brown. In the world, except for the Panna mine in India, there are almost no other large mines whose stones can be accepted by the local people in Arkansas. (Howard said that the similarity between diamonds in these two places is probably superficial, although no one has recorded trace elements that can be used for fingerprints of Arkansas diamonds. If Blake's 3.9-carat diamond is imported, the net price will not exceed several hundred dollars. His remaining stones are much cheaper.

When park ranger Stolaz saw Blake's diamonds, he suggested that Blake show them to Howard at the Arkansas Geological Survey. Howard was on vacation, but after receiving a phone call about the big diamond, he made a special trip to Little Rock's office. But Blake and his fiance, her daughter and sister drove back to Wisconsin, but they didn't show up. Howard called Blake's cell phone again and again, but it didn't work. A few days later, he arrived in Blake, and Blake explained that he "had a flat tire and didn't have time to pass," Howard recalled. "A few weeks later, Blake's diamond photos appeared on eBay and Blake's own website, Arkansas Diamond Jewelry." When Blake's discovery arrived at the trailer Mufrisboro Miner's Camp,

there were a group of kind diamond hunters living in the park and campsite, which made people somewhat jealous. And very suspicious. " I was like,' Oh, my God!' Denis Tyrell, a 49-year-old licensed handyman, said that he earned his living by digging diamonds for the past 18 months. "You didn't just come here, pick a place, find 4 diamonds and say,' See you next year!' It took tyrael 1 days to find his first diamond when he arrived in the park in June 26. His personal best diamond price in 31 days was 38, which was the record he set in October 28.

despite their suspicions, there is no evidence of any misconduct. Later, a fossil and mineral merchant named Wang Yinan discovered something strange. In September 27, he bought a smaller diamond from Blake for $2. Last December, Wang Jianmin was interested in doing business with an Indian dealer named Malaysiani. * * * Ask Hilani to share a recent Kimberley Process certificate, which will ensure that his rough diamonds are not so-called blood diamonds traded by warlords in Africa, and will verify that Hilani has done business in the United States before. By chance, Hilani copied the certificate on an order sent by Hilani to Blake for the king. Wang simply evaluated his potential business partner and decided to ask whether Blackshirani was trustworthy. To his surprise, Blake denied this connection: he said that all our diamonds came from the United States, and < P > Wang didn't think too much about this incident until March 28. He is talking with Hilani about the origin of rough diamonds. Wang mentioned Blake's website. The businessman took one look and immediately felt that he recognized some of Blake's jewels as his own. "I realized that I came across something relatively big," Wang said. Hilani shared his receipt, delivery confirmation number and photos with Wang, and they later tracked down another source: a Belgian businessman named Philip klapp Holtz. Wang Jianmin revealed the news on Fakeminerals under the pseudonym of "Hal Guyot". Clarified the so-called fraud.

if Blake really grows foreign diamonds on Arkansas land, is that a crime? Preston Glenn, the sheriff of pike county, is investigating Blake and expects to finish his work in early 29, but he said that if there are any charges, it will be up to the prosecutor to decide whether to pursue them. Meanwhile, officials say Blake has agreed not to return to Diamond Pit National Park.

Blake said that he didn't do anything wrong, but posted wrong photos on his website. "There are some diamonds that are problematic, but no one can prove anything," he said.

On a Friday afternoon last August, Taylor, a diamond hunter, finally got her own luc.