NEW DIAMOND FIELD

Evening Star, Issue 20049, 14 December 1928, Page 8

NEW DIAMOND FIELD

AFRICAN SECRET HUGE RETURNS REPORTED . Two or three times a, week an aero* plane glides to earth at the military aerodrome in Capo. Town. As soon, as the engines arc stilled the pilot takes a black box from the fuselage and hands it ever to an armed guard, in that little 1 x>x aro diamonds worth nearly £250,000 (writes a'special correspondent of the ‘ Daily Alai! ’ from Cape Town). They have been brought by tho military aeroplane from the richest and most secret diamond field in tho world. Between £3,000,000 and £1,000,000 worth of diamonds are being found on this field each month, and carefully hoarded away in secret vaults in Capo Town. If this wealth of stones were suddenly flung on to the market in Hatton Garden and New York, diamonds would become as cheap' as artificial pearls. Yet the world outside the big diamond. syndicates knows nothing of this greatest diamond discovery of tho age. It exists in a lonely sandy waste known as Alexander Bay, lying on tho southwest coast of Africa, just below tho mouth of the Orange River. Tho district is called Namaqualand, an area or salt pans and sand dunes where droughts occur with terrible regularity, and the few white farmers live a precarious existence. A few montlis ago a Dr Maronsky, prospecting in this sandy wilderness, stumbled upon diamonds lying on tho surface of the ground. Where tho wind had swept away the sand, diamonds could bo seen. But the land was Crown laud, and Dr Marensky had to report his discovery. The South African Government quietly investigated the find and soon realised that Alexander Bay was tho richest diamond field in the world. They quickly pointed out that the area was Crown land, permitted Dr Marensky and the syndicate who wore financing him to take 100 claims, and thereupon prohibited any further prospecting in the district. And then, with a few white workers, they proceeded to unearth a wealth and quality of diamonds such as the world has never known before. No journalist or outsider is permitted to go near the fields, no photographs aro allowed to be taken, and aro area is policed by picked men who have orlers to shoot any intruders, ft was in March this year that the mystery diamond field was publicly revealed by an accident in tho House of Assembly in Cape Town. The members were engaged in tho dull business of passing the annual vote for the Department of Alines and Industries, when one member called attention to the fact that an additional amount of £2,500 was required under the subhead of “ District Mining Development,”

“.Will you give ns some inlonnation about that?” General Smuts asked tho Minister of Mines, Air Beyers. Air Beyers was obviously disconcerted. Ho became non-committal. Ho talked vaguely of the need for building a road or two in tho neighbourhood of some diggings in which the Government was interested. General Smuts was not satisfied. Ho cross-examined the Minister of Alines, and eventually dragged some details of this astonishing diamond adventure into the light of day. The original discoverer of these diamond fields was, it was admitted, a Dr Marensky,. a European geologist who has been prospecting in South Africa for a year or so. Diamonds aggregating 12,500 carats, worth about £150,000, were found by him in a lew weeks. On the farm Klein see, which was worked by a Kimberley syndicate, diamonds worth more than £200,000 were taken from, one pot-hole within a month.

The Minister of Alines became unusually eloquent. He described Alexander'liny as “something unparalleled in the history of tho country,” and he added: “If we start-with sixty people the great thing wo will have to guard against, perhaps, is finding too many diamonds. If you walk about there on a windy day you can pick out stones on the surface. I picked up diamonds myself to the value of £6OO in less than an hour.” Following upon this statement the big international diamond syndicate whoso wealth is sunk in Kimberley set to work to investigate tho new. diseov'ery. Their millions were in jeopardy. Sir David Harris, the diamond magnate, was able to state from his own knowledge that Alexander Bay was the richest diamond field ever discovered in South Africa or any otlioi country. Within a few days of this announcement came news of a big find in the vicinity of Namaqualand, where, after a few weeks’ prospecting, a parcel of diamonds .valued at £350,000 had been discovered. The Government set to work, on "the new fields with a. staff of sixty seventy poor whites as workers. Not on!/ was it discovered that the fields were richer than those at Kimberley, bin. tho quality and size of the stones were infinitely superior to those discovered in any other part of the world. Moreover, it soon became apparent that tho State diggings were even richer than those claimed by Dr Alaronsky and his syndicate. Owing to tho inaccessible nature of. tho wilderness surrounding Alexander Bay military aeroplanes were called into use to transport tho diamonds to Cano Town, One day one of tho aeroplanes had to descend owing to engine trouble on farm lands near the Cape. The farmer hurried out of his house to give assistance to tho two airmen, but to his astonishment found a service revolver levelled at him and a. harsh voice ordering him to return to his house. Later the engine trouble was righted, and tho diamond-freighted aeroplane resumed its flight to Cape Town. Naturally, as soon as details of the now fields'leaked out prospectors and diggers from all over South Africa wanted to rush the Namaqualand diggings, but tho Government refused to allow this. ‘They erected a gigantic fence round the State diggings, ami a permanent police force was posted at Dnnvlei, which is three miles from tho di n fr in rr s. At present only £6,000 worth of Namaqualand diamonds is permitted to be placed on tho market each month. The Government is avoiding tho temptation to overfeed tho market, although the demand for diamonds has recently improved. Yet at tho moment over £8.000,000 worth of (diamonds from Namaqualand aro hidden away in the vault at Capo Town.