A unique wedding ring. Julien Navas, 42 years old and originally from Paris, made a discovery as rare as it was exceptional during his stay in the United States at the beginning of January: a 7.46-carat diamond. This is the eighth largest diamond discovered at the Crater of Diamonds, a park located in Arkansas, according to a press release from the site. This Parisian decided to use it to make his girlfriend’s wedding ring.
Julien Navas, however, did not cross the Atlantic with this objective. This father of a 3-year-old girl who works for VLC video player came to witness the launch of the Vulcan Centaur rocket in Cape Canaveral, Florida. “We spent some time there and I had heard about the Crater of Diamonds,” he tells us. A lifelong amateur gold digger and digging enthusiast, the fiancé sees this as an opportunity to unearth a diamond for his future wife.
The 7.46-carat diamond discovered by Julien Navas.
After 1,500 km by car and two days of travel, Julien Navas finally arrives at the park, which he himself defines as an “open-air crater”. It is an ancient volcano, which erupted 90 million years ago. The magma brought thousands of diamonds to the surface. Now owned by the state of Arkansas, the park attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists each year. Everyone can excavate for 10 euros per entry.
An incessant exploration
After purchasing the equipment and materials necessary to undertake his research, Julien Navas, dressed as an “Arkansas cowboy”, as he likes to define himself, begins to dig. There he comes across “regular customers who he has been looking for for years”, but who are not inclined to give him the right advice. After four hours of intense searching, “I found nothing but mud.”
Not desperate, however, Julien Navas resumes his exploration after the lunch break. “I decide to move away from the center of the crater where everyone is watching and I come across a gentleman who advises me to walk simply because it had rained in the morning and the gravel had been washed away by the rain. »
Julien Navas in the Diamond Crater in Arkansas.
After three hours of walking, the father comes across a small stone that seems like “chocolate-colored quartz” but whose brilliance is intriguing. He hurries to show it to the gentleman he met before. This man is categorical: he is definitely a diamond. “He IS like yellow diamonds, he is a little rarer than white diamonds,” the lucky one would later learn. This discovery earned him the nickname “King of the Hill” from the regular visitors to the mine, who celebrated this discovery with him. “There was a very nice atmosphere,” remembers Julien Navas, still happy.
Things get complicated when this Parisian wants to leave the park with his diamond: “There was no one to give me the certificate but after some negotiations they let me leave with a document certifying that I had found it. »Only this Friday he received the document certifying his discovery.
“I will have a unique jewel”
With the certification, Julien can now have his gemstone cut. “The challenge now is to know how many diamonds we can get from them,” he explains. He would like to use part of it for the wedding ring and give another part to his daughter. Furthermore, he does not know the value of his diamond, it will depend “on any fractures or impurities observed by the cutter, but also on the purity and final color”. Those familiar with the mine suggested “a potential value of tens of thousands of euros after cutting”.
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