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Amateur emerald diggers strike it rich in North Carolina

Kevin and Libby Barrieault paid $25 admission to dig for emeralds at the aging North American Emerald Mine in Hiddenite, North Carolina, last Friday.

It was the first time in 40 years that a gemstone club had been granted digging access to the land.

Within five minutes, Kevin found a 50-carat emerald, worth more than $10,000.

"My husband asked where we should start digging," Libby Barrieault told ABC News. "I said 'This looks like a good spot,' and turned around to get out our picks and shovels. Then he said 'What do you think we can do with this?' and flipped the emerald over to me," she said. "It was just one of those 'wow' moments."

"I didn't think I would ever find anything, but I guess God shined down on me and let me find that emerald for her," Kevin told WSOCTV.com.

The next day, engaged couple John Kehoe and Terry Lofgren found a "pocket of crystals," including "a 30-carat emerald, 240-carats worth of loose emeralds and about 160-carats of high quality matrix emeralds embedded in the rock." The loot has an estimated value of $30-40,000.

"We hit the jackpot," Lofgren told ABC News. "It's so surreal…It's amazing to see so much green."

Jamie Hill, the mine's owner, doesn't mind that he's losing money on the recent mine discoveries:

"I haven't had a major find in a number of years," Hill said. "I figured, if you bring in a whole bunch of recreational miners in here and let them go loose, it's a great experience for them and they may just find something. It helps me too because it leads me to new locations. So it's win-win."

Earlier last month, the N.C. Museum of National Sciences received a jaw-dropping collection of rare emeralds from an anonymous donor. In the collection is the 64.38-carat "Carolina Emperor," the largest cut emerald originating in North America.