Diamond mine

“ The diamond mines of Kimberley, which support an industrial population of about 50,000, and the great gold mines of the Rand, which at the present stage of development supply the wherewithal to live to 200,000 people, white and black, would be able to work only on a restricted basis; the greater number of the Rand mines would have to shut down, and without railways it may be said that the stimulating production of wealth in the nearly indestructible form of gold and diamonds would practically cease. ”

“ The Newlands Mine, West Griqualand, about 40 miles north-west of Kimberley, is interesting on account of the occurrence of diamond in what the Reverend Professor Bonney considers to be its true matrix. The workmen occasionally come across well-rounded, boulder-like masses of eclogite, a rather coarsely crystalline rock, sometimes more than a foot in diameter. ”

“ Even the ignorant African natives of today cannot be trusted to wear clothing while working in the diamond mines. No, the cause of high grading is the innate greed of human beings and it has existed from prehistoric time and among all peoples.
In this discussion as to grades of ore, the question may arise as to what might be reasonably considered the most attractive kind of a mining proposition. This is too knotty a query to be answered in a few words. There are so many different phases that must be given due weight. Every mine is a problem in itself. ”

“ If diamonds were formed by heat, it was not in the Kimberley mine, as the shale walls and the agglomerate within the mine show no signs of having there been subjected to any great heat; on the contrary, water and air seem to have been here the active agents.
From the foregoing extracts it will be seen that no theory as to the formation of the diamond hitherto advanced is completely, if at all satisfactory, and the mystery, if penetrable, must be left to the geologist of the future. ”

“ The mining of silver at Catorce, Mexico, followed the discovery of shining silver nuggets in the camp-fire of a native, who had camped right upon a rich outcrop. The Kimberly diamond mines are said to have been disclosed by the burrowings of an ichneumon, which fetched a brilliant stone to the sunlight.
Adventitious finds are such as occasionally occur when, while really searching for, or actually mining, one metal, discovery is made of a different metal, or possibly the same metal is found in an entirely different kind of ore. ”

“ Doctor O'Fallon's sudden and unexplained departure excited neither grief nor comment, although, odd to relate, Mr. "Social" Benton and Piet van Troomp, the Boer overseer, saw him off on the Union Castle Line dock at Cape Town Bay.
On the second day out Mr. Mooney had discovered that controlling a walking diamond mine and ostensibly managing a shoe shop were two different matters. The Mine displayed a complaining irritability. ”

“ From the dull earth comes the bright sparkle of the diamond. Early prospectors, as gold-hunters panned the streams, sifted the surface gravel. When likely spots were located, men and machines began to dig. At Kimberly, the mine shaft is more than 3500 feet deep. One diamond may be secured for each 21 million parts of ore; but gem diamonds in the larger sizes are so much more rare than industrials or gems in the smaller sizes that more than 250 tons must be mined to yield a stone that can be cut and polished into a one-carat gem. ”

“ Diamonds in Africa have aided commerce, increased exportation and importation, indirectly helping the people at large, but they have not competed with gold in the political potentialities. They are found, when their stories are written, to be rather romantic than historical. Their is a fascination in the relation of the finding of South African diamond mines equal to the charms of fiction. ”

“ In the first days of diamond mining there was no idea that diamantiferous earth extended to any particular depth, and miners were allowed to dig holes at haphazard and prospect where they liked. When the Kimberley Mine was discovered a new arrangement was made, and in July, 1871, it was cut up into about 500 claims, each 31 feet square, with spaces reserved for about fifteen roadways across the mine. No person at first could hold more than two claims—a rule afterwards modified. ”

“ In our day the mines are worked upon scientific principles, under the guidance of the ablest mining-engineering talent procurable in America. There are elaborate works for reducing the blue rock and passing it through one process after another until every diamond it contains has been hunted down and secured. I watched the “concentrators” at work big tanks containing mud and water and invisible diamonds—and was told that each could stir and churn and properly treat 300 car-loads of mud per day 1,600 pounds to the car-load—and reduce it to 3 car-loads of slush. ”

“ On the favorable outcome of the valuation and the engineer’s report concerning the diamond deposits, we agreed to take care of the financial end. Not connected with any agreement with Arnold or Slack, was a plan to facilitate the passage of a law whereby a great territory of mining land could be taken up so as to insure to ourselves the entire field, no matter what the extent. ”

“ The Diamond-Mines in these parts are generally adjacent to Rocky-hills, or Mountains, whereof begins a great Ledge or Range near Cape Comorin, extending in Breadth about 50 English Miles, some conjoyning, [Pg 239] others scatter'd: and running thence in length quite through Bengula. In, among, and near these Hills, in several places, are known to be (as its believed most of them have) Mines; many of them are possessed by petty Princes, or Rajaes, of the Hundues; some driven thither for shelter by the Mores, who have taken the greatest part of their Country from them ”

“ The Premier or Wesselton mine yields a large proportion of flawless octahedra, but, above all, a large number of beautiful deep-orange diamonds. Of all the South African mines the Jagersfontein in the Orange River Colony alone supplies stones of the highly-prized blue-white colour and steely lustre characteristic of the old Indian stones. The new Premier mine in the Transvaal is prolific, but mostly in off-coloured and low-grade stones, the Cullinan diamond being a remarkable exception. ”

“ While we cannot yet use the force that builds large white diamonds we can use the diamonds themselves. Set a number of them around a section of an iron tube, place it against a rock, at the surface or deep down in a mine, cause it to revolve rapidly by machinery, and it will bore into the rock, leaving a core. Force in water, to remove the dust and chips, and the diamond teeth will eat their way hundreds of feet in any direction; and by examining the extracted core miners can tell what sort of ore there is hundreds of feet in advance. ”

“ The captain was an expert in this river life, the Indians were chopping wood and bringing in game and fish, the blacks were busy now getting the mine started and later in digging, so that we were a very busy and quite contented colony.
Diamond mining on the Mazaruni is not [Pg 130] unlike gold dust mining. The diamonds, like the gold, being the heaviest substance in the gravel, naturally settle down to the bottom when a sieve is twisted about so as to make the water move around and around. The centrifugal force sends the heavy material to the bottom. ”

“ First we were to send a large sample of the diamonds to Tiffany, of New York, then, as now, the greatest American authority on precious stones, and have them thoroughly examined and appraised. If their value were proved beyond peradventure, then Messrs. Ralston, Lent, Roberts, Dodge and myself were to choose a mining expert to whom Arnold and Slack agreed to exhibit the diamond fields and permit a full examination of the same.
Nothing could possibly be fairer to all, and Arnold and Slack easily consented to these conditions, without a moment’s hesitation. ”

“ There is an entrancing interest in diamond mining far exceeding that of gold, for at any moment one is likely to come across a princely fortune. The miner is ever hopeful. Communing with himself, he says: "To-morrow I may be made independent by a lucky find." ”

“ By far the greater part of the successful mining is still done by antiquated methods which have the advantage that they require little capital for an outfit. A miner's tools consist of a short-handled hoe with which to stir up diamond-bearing gravel in a sluice; a crowbar to pry up stone to lay bare deeper layers or to break down banks of clay or gravel; an iron hook on a pole with which to take diamond bearing gravel from beneath large stones or from cracks otherwise inaccessible ”

“ A legal opinion, given by a well-known solicitor, stated that no one could forcibly dispossess the Mine of its possessions during its lifetime, and that, according to precedent, it had a right to will what should become of it after it had lost all interest in the riches that are had upon earth. As to the valuable property itself, under Doctor O'Fallon's orders, it had taken to rubber-tipped sticks and to going about in goloshes.
It came at last! A sub rosa inquiry from Mr. Isaac Solomon, a diamond broker to whom Mr. Mooney had secured an introduction, and a meeting was arranged at the hotel. ”

“ India has been celebrated from the most remote antiquity as the country of diamonds. Its principal mines are in the kingdoms of Golconda and Visapour, extending from Cape Comorin to Bengal, at the foot of a chain of mountains called the Orixa, which appear to belong to the trap rock formation. In all the Indian diamond soils, these gems are so dispersed, that they are rarely found directly, even in searching the richest spots, because they are enveloped in an earthy crust, which must be removed before they can be seen. ”

“ Its seaboard at Parahiba, and for hundreds of miles north and south of it, projects into the Atlantic a thousand miles to the east of the direct line between its northern and southern extremities. Besides her diamond and gold mines, she possesses what is much more desirable, namely, valuable deposits of iron, copper, silver, and other metals. We have before us statistics which give the result of diamond mining in Brazil from 1740 to 1823, when national independence was won, which show the aggregate for that entire period to have been less than ten million dollars in value ”

“ This is not to say that the proprietors of roadside rock shops buy all of their stock from others. Rock shops are abundant in areas of the United States that are rich in gem materials, and the shops tend to specialize in the local gem commodities, most of which the proprietors gather.
Rather than doing the mining themselves, owners of land that has a deposit of gem-quality minerals sometimes charge hobbyists for the right to collect gemstones. For example, diamond in Arkansas, opal in Idaho, and agate in Oregon and Washington are mined by hobbyists under this “fee digging” arrangement. ”

“ A negress working at the mines of Minas-Geraes in 1853 picked up in her trough a stone two hundred and fifty-four and one half carats in weight, which proving to be an undoubted diamond obtained freedom for the woman, and afterwards a life-pension. Her master sold the diamond for fifteen thousand dollars, and the buyer immediately obtained one hundred and fifty thousand dollars for it. After being cut by Voorsanger, the same workman who manipulated the Koh-i-nûr, it proved to be a white stone of uncommon beauty and lustre. ”

“ They pointed out several spots where they had previously dug and found the precious stones, already mined and delivered in San Francisco. We all went to work with our primitive mining implements—picks, shovels and pans. Everyone wanted to find the first diamond. After a few minutes Rubery gave a yell. He held up something glittering in his hand. It was a diamond, fast enough. Any fool could see that much. Then we began to have all kinds of luck. For more than an hour, diamonds were being found in profusion, together with occasional rubies, emeralds and sapphires. ”

“ So plentiful is the supply, and so inexpensive, comparatively, is the cost of mining that other diamond-producing works have almost entirely withdrawn from the industry since the South African mines were opened. It has been estimated that ninety-eight per cent of the diamonds of commerce are now supplied by these mines.
The British protectorate of Bechuanaland, lying to the north of Cape Colony and Griqualand and to the west of the Transvaal, has an [279] area of about 213,000 square miles, with a population of 200,000—mostly natives. ”

“ Australia has afforded to the gold miners quite a number of small diamond crystals, and gem fields undoubtedly occur within its borders. Among the auriferous sands of the Maguarie River minute crystals have been picked by the careless miner from time to time, and other localities have also afforded specimens of the mineral, but no systematic search has yet been made for them. ”

“ It not being possible to point out where the ancient river beds lie, smothered as they are by hundreds of feet of overlying drift, lava, and other later deposits, the only feasible plan is a series of boring with the diamond drill.
When gold has been discovered the finder must act with the greatest prudence, for even gold may be bought too dear. The surest test is a mill run, that is passing 10 to 50 tons through all the operations of crushing, milling, roasting, amalgamating, etc., and so ascertaining what returns are likely to be obtainable when the deposit is worked on a commercial scale. ”