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Diamonds in the rough

Posted: Thursday, December 27, 2007 12:42 PM by Barbara Raab

By Kevin Tibbles, NBC News correspondent

NBC News with Brian Williams

Editor's note: Kevin Tibbles's report airs tonight on the broadcast.

I guess there still remains a bit of the "prospector spirit" in the America of today--that desire to explore, and hunt for buried treasure, and strike it rich.  The same desire that helped build this nation is alive and well and digging in a field outside Murfreesboro, Arkansas.

It's called the 'Crater of Diamonds' State Park, a 100-millon-year-old extinct volcano, where visitors can plunk down their $6.50 entrance fee for the chance to sift through the dirt in search of....yup...diamonds.
 
In early December, 48-year-old modern day prospector Denis Tyrell, who has been seeking his fortune here since last March, found the one-thousandth diamond of 2007. It was a 3.48 carat champagne-colored beauty, and Tyrell reckons it'll fetch him about $9,000.
 
But for the curious or the average tourist, the Crater of Diamonds allows your imagination and dreams to run wild in the mud.  Just think, who knows what this next scoop might bring? Fame? Fortune? Or, in my case, more mud!
 
It's the only diamond mine in the world that allows members of the public to take home what they find, and on tonight's broadcast, we'll find out why they are flocking here.

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Dear Kevin Tibbles, I saw your report about DIAMONDS IN THE ROUGH on Friday 12/28/07. I just wanted to let you know that I saw a Front Line Special on PBS several years ago, that reported that the only reason that this diamond mine was made a State Park was because the Debears company paid off (lobbied) our (no good) cheating members of the US Congress and Senate. The reason they did this is because the Debears company has a Monopoly on the diamond market. They didn't want anyone to buy this land and get in the diamond business against Debears and drop their artifically inflated diamond prices. In the Front Line Report they made it very clear that diamonds are not a rare gem like the ruby or some other true rare rocks on earth. The diamond is a well marketed shine stone that is promoted as rare but it is not very rare at all. Just think, we use diamond tipped saw blades for cutting stuff, if they were that rare those blades would be thousands of dollars to buy, but they are not. Debears is so rich and so powerful that they have made sure they are the controlling factor of diamond prices in the world. The Debears company was extremely concerned about Russia becoming a democratic free state-like country because the Russian's have so many diamonds in their hands that they could flood the market and drop the price of a diamond to 1/100th the price of a diamond in todays market. They some how convinced the Russian Government not to flood the market. They bought off the Russian's basicaly. I would suggest that you take the time to watch the Front Line Special on this topic, it was a 2 hour special and I have only seen it aired once. Probibly because Debears some how bought off some one in the US Government to never air that report ever again. It makes me sick to think that our US Government is in bed with these people for one reason, MONEY.  I hope you do a follow up to your story and investigate just how and who was involved in making this Diamond Mine a US Park. I will be whatching. Happy New Year! Sincerely, Mark Arsenault, NBC news whatcher...

Mark Arsenault, Franklinville, NJ (Sent Sunday, December 30, 2007 1:53 AM)



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