Finding Diamonds in the Golden Rough, Literally...
Today I thought it might be fun to share a nice little gold nugget. This isn't one I found personally, but rather traded for it from a prospector who lives up in northern California. The nugget itself is about 1.5 grams, so it's not really big, but it sure is pretty. What is really interesting about it was the story he told me about one area he likes to prospect, where this nugget incidentally was found.
During summer months he goes to old hydraulic mining sites and uses a metal detector looking for nuggets they missed when the operation was still active. Hydraulic mining was made illegal in the late 1800's because it was destroying the environment. Essentially they used high pressure water to wash away the side of a hill or mountain into huge sluice boxes below to catch the heavier gold.
On one occasion after having no luck with his detector he went to the stream down below and started to pan for some gold. That's when he had some better luck finding a lot of fine gold flakes and small nuggets. But he also found a glassy looking crystal which he nearly tossed out. He kept it, and lo and behold it turned out to be a diamond! Since then he has found more gold an another diamond in the same area, but being wise he keeps the location his personal secret.
Diamonds
Diamonds, for the most part, form in the earth's mantle some 150 to 250 kilometers deep. Carbon at these depths is placed under extreme heat and pressure resulting in diamonds. The usually are pushed up to the surface by volcanic eruptions, particularly very deep eruptions known as kimberlite eruptions. The earth hasn't had one of these in around 40 million years so they aren't well understood. But the tubes the eruptions flow through can end up with diamonds scattered throughout, or sometimes none at all.
Diamonds are well known to be sourced out of Africa which has many, many diamond mines in several countries. Other countries with large production are Russia and Canada. What many people here in the USA don't realize is that they're found here as well, there just aren't as many and you have to know where to look.
The most productive area for diamonds in the US is in Arkansas. Crater of Diamonds State Park is open to the public to search for diamonds, although there is an entrance fee. The best part is you get to keep what you find. This is located on top of one of these kimberlite tubes that has eroded down over millions of years leaving diamonds in the ground. Over 35,000 have been found since 1972.
Many years back I had a chance to try my luck there when I was doing some contract work in Little Rock. I spent a weekend sifting through dirt and digging. I was lucky enough to find a small diamond of very poor quality, so it wasn't worth very much. It was sitting on the surface of the one of the fields that they periodically plow to uncover any shallow diamonds. But I found one! I traded it to a friend years ago, but it's a cool story!
Wyoming and Arkansas tend to have the most diamonds found in the US. Canada has many more deposits than we do here. But California also has it's own diamond supply. Apparently many old time gold miners would come across white crystals periodically and tossed them out not realizing they were likely diamonds. Some 600 have been reported found in the state. However the prospector I met who had found a couple pointed out that the word "reported" leaves out the majority of finds which finders often keep a secret.
I found this interesting story from 2017 where a woman was working her gold claim near one of the old hydraulic mines in the Sierra Nevada mountains that was producing a nice amount of gold. One day while searching her sluice she found a raw diamond which she immediately recognized for what it was.
Wouldn't it be great to find one of those?
I think it would exciting to run into one of those while prospecting. I've never found a diamond while searching for gold, but it would be cool! As many of you know I've always been a bit of a treasure hunter and have always enjoyed searching for the treasure hoards wherever I've lived. For those of you who do prospect for gold in California don't throw out any white, shiny crystals. It may be a diamond!
If you are interested in prospecting or treasure hunting there are prospecting groups around the globe that are a great resource to get started. Just be careful out there and stay away from restricted areas or dangerous spots. Every year I hear a new story of some treasure hunter vanishing, mostly in dangerous areas and deserts. You can't spend the treasure if you're dead!
That will wrap up my post for the day, it's been awhile since I've done a prospecting/ treasure hunting piece. I hope you enjoyed it. If any of you have found a diamond before please feel free to share your stories. Please feel free to ask any questions or leave any comments below. Thanks for all of your support, it really is greatly appreciated!
Disclaimer:
All photos are mine unless otherwise indicated
I am part of the management team of the DUO token
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond
https://www.geologyin.com/2017/08/california-women-went-looking-for-gold.html
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cp/world-diamond-mining-by-country/
https://www.arkansasstateparks.com/parks/crater-diamonds-state-park
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A very amazing story my friend, I had no idea that Arkansas had diamonds!
Being able to search for your own diamonds and keeping what you find, for only an entrance fee is awesome.... Sounds like I need a road trip to Arkansas Lol!!😀
Wyoming may actually have the most undiscovered diamond mines in the country. There a lot of kimberlite tubes in the forests that are so remote no one has really been able to test them out. Hard to move a core drill out to the middle of nowhere to look for a mine when the only way in is to fly it on a helicopter!
Very beautiful country, and possibility of diamonds as well!👍
This State might be worth checking out for retirement!😇
Yo quiero encontrar muchos diamantes, muchos,,,,
Yo tambien... No creo que hay muchos en Venezuela pero si hay en Brazil
That would be cool to find something like that. I have heard lab grown diamonds are all the rage now.
They are much less expensive and usually flawless. Chemically they are identical and some are so well done that even diamond experts can't tell them apart. They are expensive to produce though but that cost will surely come down eventually. Maybe we'll all have diamond presses in our garages in the future!
I'd love to be able to buy something really nice for my wife and the whole ethics of the diamond market have gotten out of hand. Having something accessible as this though not as rare would be cool.
A lot of dishonesty about sourcing trying to hide those conflict diamonds. If you could find a reliable source that's of Canadian origin maybe?...
I don't hate Canada :)
Cool looking gold nugget. Never got to go prospecting but sounds fun. Never good to venture out without knowing the area or dangers like you mentioned. I wonder how many discarded those diamonds thinking they were nothing while searching for gold.
Some stories I've heard in old California is that it wasn't uncommon to come across those while hydraulic mining and they all were discarded not knowing they were diamonds!
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It would be great to find a diamond like that. It's a girl's best friend.
No way, just kidding. !lolz
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It would be fun to find a nice one like that. The one I found wasn't gem quality, or even very pretty. But it was a diamond!
In Africa treasure hunting is a risky venture. As you know, some African countries are places to get a lot of diamond and gold. Rwanda for example was one of such places, and in the past many lives were lost in the quest for these gems.
Africa has a very sad history of human exploitation to get the gold and gems. It has happened pretty much everywhere else on this planet and one time or another. Human nature can be greedy and some people don't mind hurting others for their own benefit. Way too many sociopaths out there...
Don't feel about about not finding a diamond when you're looking for gold... I can't even find gold when I'm looking for gold..
I've had those outing too where you don't even find anything at all, especially metal detecting. You find lots of garbage though!
!LOL
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All I found was sand..
That sucks, I know there is a lot of gold in Colorado. Used to be in Puerto Rico too until the Spanish mined it all out!
Wow, diamonds too 💎
Talk about hitting it lucky. It must be a really fun past-time, especially when you find a few. The secret I guess is knowing where to look.
I remember staying in California years ago and seeing guys going around on Quad bikes, wondering what they were up to. I'm guessing know in hindsight that they were prospecting for gold.
There's lots to do out there, hiking trails, trails for motorcycles and quads, but most good spots for gold you have to hike for the most part. There have been a couple times I found some right off a trailhead, but people work through those areas because they're easy. The best stuff is usually farther in. No diamonds for me so far though!