[HN Gopher] Digging for Diamonds at Crater of Diamonds State Par...
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       Digging for Diamonds at Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas
        
       Author : axiomdata316
       Score  : 27 points
       Date   : 2021-05-23 05:22 UTC (17 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.afar.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.afar.com)
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | arwhatever wrote:
       | I often wanted to go do this as a child growing up in Arkansas.
       | 
       | In hindsight, each time I would bring it up my parents would have
       | something of an "oh shit, anything but that!" reaction and would
       | quickly distract me with some other activity or suggestion, and
       | to date I've never been.
       | 
       | I'm certain that to them, the suggestion was essentially to drive
       | several hours out and back to play in the dirt.
       | 
       | (this article is well-written and quite interesting, btw)
        
         | keanebean86 wrote:
         | I grew up in Arkansas too. I've went digging twice. Once as a
         | kid and again in my early 20s. Funny enough I woke up with
         | horrible back pain the second time and was basically worthless
         | the whole day. My wife hated the whole ordeal so we've not been
         | back.
        
       | teruakohatu wrote:
       | There many videos on Youtube by hobbiests who frequent the park.
       | It is back breaking work. The park rangers rightly prevent any
       | modern, or even hobbiest, mining automation.
       | 
       | > was encouraged to keep the stone in its rough form--no
       | polishing, no cutting. "It's a beautiful chocolate diamond,"
       | Kinard says. "It's a nine-carat diamond. Those are very rare, and
       | very hard to come by.
       | 
       | It might not be worth very much. Diamonds are not rare, are not
       | particularly beautiful when uncut. The valuable diamonds are the
       | diamonds that can be cut to produce a flawless gem.
        
       | ezzaf wrote:
       | Visitation numbers from the article:
       | 
       | "Despite the challenges and restrictions of the COVID pandemic,
       | 129,218 people traveled to Crater of Diamonds in 2020 for what
       | was a record-breaking year, with more than 80 carats of diamonds
       | unearthed"
       | 
       | At $10 a visit the entrance fees add up to a lot more than the
       | value of diamonds found. Kind of like a lottery, but more
       | interactive.
        
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       (page generated 2021-05-23 23:00 UTC)