Gold miner finds diamond in Sierra foothills
By Ed Fletcher, Sacramento Bee
A California woman says she found a 1½ carat diamond while mining gold near the Sierra Nevada foothills town of Foresthill.
“I was like ‘oh my god I found a diamond,’ ” said Jillian Kelly.
Kelly, 49, left her Silicon Valley career to take up mining 10 years ago and wrote ‘The Miracle Miner: My Life as a Female Gold Miner.” The uncut semi-clear pebble-sized stone is about width of a dainty pinky finger.