(IDEX Online News) – Staff at the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas certified 303 diamonds in the half year to the end of June compared with 272 stones in the year-earlier period.

 

There were 160 white diamonds, 74 brown, and 69 yellow stones, weighing a total of 53.80 carats, compared to 49.55 carats last year.

 

So far, more than 50,000 people have visited the national park to search for diamonds.

 

The average diamond weight during the first half of the year was a little under one-fifth of a carat, although park staff certified eight diamonds weighing one carat or more, including a 2.10-carat brown gem found on April 5 that is the second-largest diamond found so far this year.