Aiexpress – A French tourist found a huge 7.46-carat diamond in an Arkansas state park this month while he was on the road.
Frenchman Julien Navas found the huge rock on the ground in Crater of Diamonds State Park on January 11 while searching the 37.5-acre area, according to state officials.
Although he was in the US to see a rocket launch in Florida, he had plans with a friend to check out Bourbon Street in New Orleans first.
He learned about Arkansas’s world-famous state park known for its bling on the way, though, and wanted to stop, according to park officials.
With experience panning for gold and looking for ammonite fossils, Navas rented a simple diamond hunting kit and started digging through the mud after days of heavy rain.
While in the US, he had the opportunity to witness a rocket launch in Florida before making plans to explore Bourbon Street in New Orleans with a friend.
After spending several more hours searching and collecting potential treasures, he made his way to the center of the park to determine if he had indeed stumbled upon a genuine prize.
In a remarkable find at the park, a stunning 7.46 carat diamond was unearthed. This deep chocolate-brown marble-like object is not only the largest diamond discovered at the park since 2020 but also ranks as the eighth largest in the park’s history since its opening in 1972.
The diamond is about the size of a candy gumdrop, the park said.
“I am so happy!” he reportedly said when he realized the pricey item he snatched up. “All I can think about is telling my fiancée what I found.”
He named the gem Carine Diamond after his girlfriend. He wants to have the stone cut into two diamonds, one for his girlfriend and the other for his daughter.
Since a farmer discovered the first diamond at the Crater of Diamonds State Park many years ago, more than 75,000 have been located there.
In 1924, a mining operation on the land that would eventually become the state park uncovered the largest diamond ever found in the US.
