Big Find At Arkansas Diamond Mine

A huge diamond was the best friend of a Colorado woman in Murfreesboro, Arkansas earlier this month.

Bobbie Oskarson discovered an 8.52 carat diamond this month while mining at Arkansas Crater of Diamonds State Park. Rules of the park say visitors keep whatever they find.

She named her gem the Esperanza Diamond, both her niece’s name and the Spanish word for “hope.”

At this time, Oskarson plans to keep the gem.

Park Interpreter Waymon Cox said, “Ms. Oskarson and her boyfriend Travis Dillon saw the Crater of Diamonds State Park on an Arkansas highway map while in the nearby town of Hot Springs and decided to visit the park. And what a lucky first visit it was for her!”

This is the fifth largest diamond found by a park visitor since the sate park was established in 1972.

“It was hot and sunny at the park, but Ms. Oskarson was staying cool by searching in a tree-shaded area when she found her diamond.” Park officials recommend that visitors bring drinking water and stay in shade as much as possible when looking for diamonds during the summer.

At first she thought it might be a quartz crystal due to its elongated shape, but park staff later confirmed that she had found a diamond.

“Ms. Oskarson’s eight-and-a-half-carat diamond is absolutely stunning, sparkling with a metallic shine, and appears to be an unbroken, capsule-shaped crystal. It features smooth, curved facets, a characteristic shared by all unbroken diamonds from the Crater of Diamonds,” Cox said. “Ms. Oskarson’s diamond is about three-quarters of an inch long and as big around as a standard No. 2 pencil.”

See more on the story on KATV.com.