A first-time visitor from Paris, Julien Navas, struck diamond-laden ground during his January visit to Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro, leaving the park with an impressive 7.46-carat gem. Navas, who had traveled to the U.S. to witness the United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur Rocket launch in Cape Canaveral, Fla., took a detour to explore the renowned Arkansas park.
Having previously tried his hand at panning for gold and hunting for ammonite fossils, Navas was drawn to the allure of the Crater of Diamonds State Park. Despite the challenging conditions brought on by over an inch of rain a few days before his arrival, Navas, armed with a basic diamond hunting kit, ventured into the 37.5-acre search area.
Undeterred by the wet and muddy conditions, Navas began digging, later shifting his focus to the surface as the day progressed. Assistant Park Superintendent Waymon Cox explained that the park’s largest diamonds are often found near the surface, exposed through natural erosion after periodic plowing of the search area.
After hours of diligent searching, Navas made his way to the Diamond Discovery Center, where he received the astonishing news that he had unearthed a 7.46-carat brown diamond. Overwhelmed with joy, he exclaimed, “I am so happy! All I can think about is telling my fiancée what I found.”
Describing his experience at the Crater of Diamonds State Park as “a magical place where the dream of finding a diamond can come true,” Navas plans to return with his daughter when she is older. Naming his discovery the Carine Diamond after his fiancée, he intends to have the stone cut into two diamonds—one for his fiancée and one for his daughter.
The Carine Diamond marks the fifth diamond registered at the park in 2024 and stands as the largest since 2020 when Kevin Kinard discovered the 9.07-carat Kinard Friendship Diamond over Labor Day Weekend. It is also the eighth-largest diamond recorded since the Crater of Diamonds became an Arkansas State Park in 1972.
Crater of Diamonds State Park consistently yields an average of one to two diamonds daily, with over 75,000 diamonds unearthed since John Huddleston’s initial discovery, making it a premier destination for diamond enthusiasts. The park’s rich history includes the largest diamond ever found in the United States in 1924 during early mining operations on the land that later became the state park.
