DIAMOND.
ARKANSAS.
According to John T. Fuller,1
no great advances were made in diamond mining in Arkansas during 1912.
The Ozark Diamond Mines Corporation erected a steam washing, crushing,
and recovery plant, capable of treating 100 loads of 16 cubic feet per
day, which ought to be in operation during 1913. A small washing plant
was erected on the property of the Arkansas Diamond Co. and operated
intermittently, recovering 35 diamonds. Additional test pits and one
diamond drill hole were sunk.
Mr. Howard A. Millar 2
has kindly furnished notes on the work of the Kimberlite Diamond Mining
& Washing Co. This company owns one of the later-discovered areas
of peridotite and has a long term lease on the Mauney tract covering a
part of the original peridotite area. A diamond washing plant is under
construction on Prairie Creek, near the edge of the town of Kimberly. A
tram 4,300 feet long is being built between the washing plant and the
Mauney lease, and it is proposed to construct another tram to the other
peridotite outcrop owned by the company. Actual washing is expected to
begin in May, 1913. Five diamonds were found in 1912 during the course
of cleaning around the mines preparatory to systematic mining. These
stones were clear white and of good quality. A yellow or amber-colored
diamond was found early in 1913. Mr. Millar mentions the finding of a
fine white diamond weighing over 7-1/2 carats by a Mr. Blanchard during
1912 on one of the later-discovered peridotite areas.
It
has been practically impossible to determine the quantity and value of
the diamonds found in the Arkansas field since the first discovery in
August, 1906. Most of the stones are still held by the mining companies
and few have been sold. It is estimated from the figures furnished the
Survey and from reports in the press and those furnished by private
persons that about 1,400 diamonds weighing nearly 550 carats have been
found from August, 1906, through December, 1912. The total estimated
value placed on this output in these reports amounts to $12,108.
The
latest information concerning the geology of the Arkansas diamond
region and the new peridotite areas is contained in a report by H. D.
Miser,3 from the manuscript copy of which the majority of the f ollowing notes have been abstracted:
At
the time of Mr. Miser's visit, late in 1912, four areas of perido'tite
were known. The first of these was described by J. C. Branner and R. N.
Brackett4 and later by G. F. Kunz and H. S. Washington 5 after the discovery in 1906 of diamonds associated with it. This outcrop is 2 to 2\ miles
S. 25° E. of Murfreesboro, in section 21, and covers an area of more
than 50 acres. Three companies hold this area, the Arkansas Diamond
Co., the Ozark Diamond Mines Corporation, and the Kimberlite Mining
& Washing Co.
1 Eng. and Min. Join., Jan. 11,1913, p. 75.
2 Personal correspondence, dated St. Louis, Mo., June 13, 1912, and Feb. 8, 1913.
3 New
areas of diamond-bearing peridodite in Arkansas: Bull. U. S. Geol.
Survey No. 540-U (in press). ' The peridotite of Pike County, Arkansas:
Am. Jour. Sci., 3d ser., vol. 38,1889, pp. 50-59.
' Diamonds in Arkansas: Trans. Am. Inst. Min. Eng., vol. 39,1908, pp. 169-176.
