Oklahoma Teen Discovers 3.85-Carat Diamond at Arkansas State Park

A 14-year-old girl's first trip to the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas is something that she will treasure her entire life as she discovered a raw 3.85-carat diamond over the weekend.

Crater of Diamonds State Park is the only place in the world where one can dig for diamonds for a small fee. The girl, Tana Clymer, happened to be at the open diamond mine with her parents over weekend. After spending two hours  digging and sifting the sand, she spotted a jellybean-size, tear-shaped gem- a Canary Diamond. The 3.85 carat canary diamond Clymer unearthed is the 396^th diamond found in the park this year.

"I thought it was a piece of paper or foil from a candy wrapper. Then, when I touched it, I thought it was a marble." Clymer said. "I think God pointed me to it. I was about to sprint to join my family, and God told me to slow down and look. Then, I found the diamond!"

Spreading across 911 acres, the Crater of Diamonds State Park has a 37.5-acres plowed field, the only diamond-bearing site in the world that is accessible to public. The visitors are free to conduct their hunt for diamond and other precious gems on this site. People have found diamonds in the field since 1906, including the world's only perfect diamond ever discovered. On an average, at least two diamonds are found per day at the park by visitors.

The excited teen named the gem as 'God's Jewel Diamond'. At the moment the value of the canary gem is not known but sources claim that the gem may be worth as much as $30,000. Depending on the value of the gem, the teen plans to either sell it and use the funds towards her college or make a diamond ring.

"This canary diamond is very similar to the gem-quality, 4.21-carat canary diamond found at the Crater of Diamonds by Oklahoma State Trooper Marvin Culver of Nowata, Oklahoma, on March 12, 2006, a gem he named the Okie Dokie Diamond," said Bill Henderson, assistant park superintendent. "Tana told me that she was so excited, she couldn't sleep last night."

Before Clymer, it was a Kentucky man to make headline after he discovered a 2.95 carat champagne brown diamond at the park early this year. Since he unearthed the diamond on July 4^th, he named as 'Patriot Diamond' and his finding got the total number of diamonds unearthed at the state park to 304. A Texas man discovered a 2.13-carat diamond called 'Nona Diamond',named in honour of his wife, on September 28.