How to Find and Pan for Diamonds

Though this is about Australia, principles, concepts, and practices can apply to other areas.  For instance, scattered diamonds have been found in the Georgia Blue Ridge Province and rumored to have been found in the Piedmont Province, so it doesn't hurt to be more observant. 

Most of them reported from placer gold mining operations.  But I have seen references of tiny diamonds found in heavy mineral samples collected and analyzed by the Georgia Geologic Survey some years ago (even a few from the Coastal Plain).  The specific reference has been lost/forgotten and the only locality I remember is the Sautee-Nacoochee Valley, south (downstream) from Helen. GA.  A pertinent question might be, were they upstream of the confluence of Dukes Creek and the Chattahoochee River, or not?  (I am certain that Dukes Creek dumps a fair amount of gold into the Chattahoochee River and who knows what else.) 

And in the Ohio River Valley, primarily north of the Ohio River, glacial till has yielded both gold and diamonds, having been "scraped" off the Canadian Shield and brought south.

So, in either spot, showings of "heavy minerals" in your pan or sluice box are ways of telling you that "you are on the right track".

As my wife and I may be visiting Arkansas soon, here is some useful info.