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Contractor hits pay dirt at diamond park

By The Associated Press

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MURFREESBORO, Ark. — A man hired to churn up the dirt at Crater of Diamonds State Park, exposing new soil for diamond hunters to sift through, has found a 2.93-carat diamond.

The state Parks and Tourism Department said in a news release Wednesday that Royce Walker of Walker Sand and Gravel in Lockesburg found the dark, honey-brown diamond Tuesday as he was walking through the 37.5-acre diamond-search area toward a bulldozer his son was driving.

Crater of Diamonds is the only diamond mine in North America where the public can search for diamonds and other gems and keep them. Since the site became a state park in 1972, the largest diamond found was 16 carats. Before that, a 40-carat diamond was unearthed.

In all, the site has produced more than 75,000 diamonds since the first discovery in 1906.

This article was published October 21, 2009 at 5:31 p.m.

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