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“ De Beers officials profess not to be disturbed by the possibility of making large artificial diamonds, which, if turned out from a laboratory would make their $85,000,000 of stock values hardly worth more than so much old paper. At the same time they are not so confident in the matter of other big diamond mines being found. ”

“ As a consequence, as the mine got deeper...there was a great waste of labor, duplication of work, and confusion, the miners underbid one another bringing down the price, and finally the claims began to fall on each other and tumble inward. ”

“ The consolidation effected by Rhodes and Barnato was a physical it it was not an economic necessity. When the mines were discovered, the mining law was that a man could not own more that one claim of 30x30 feet, except in the case of a discoverer of a mine, who was allowed two extra claims. When these mines were discovered there was an immediate rush, and within a few day all of the ground had been staked off in little plots 30x30 feet. In the crater of the Kimberley mine alone there were nearly 100 such claims. ”