DIAMOND MINES TO CLOSE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21112, 20 February 1932, Page 9

DIAMOND MINES TO CLOSE.

BLOW TO KIMBERLEY. HUGE LOSS IN WAGES. ARMY OF WORKERS AFFECTED. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. (Received February 10, 7.35 p.m.) CAPETOWN, Feb. 19. The directors of the De Beers Diamond Company liavo decided to close their Kimberley mines for an indefinite period pending an improvement in the world's diamond market. The decision will become effective on March 31. Fifteen hundred white workers and many thousand natives are affected. The closure also involves a curtailment of expenditure in the Union of wages amounting to £2,250,000. Some of the white workers are to be retained part time arid those who are dismissed will receive liberal cash payments. The production of diamonds from mines within the Capo province of South Africa is practically limited to the De Beers Company. Their mines are known as the Kimberley, De Beers, Wesselton, Bultfontein and Du Toits Pan. Ihe first, in which a depth of more than 3000 ft. has been reached, was closed in 1909. The De Beers was closed in 1908. But the "blue ground" raised from these mines was not exhausted till 1912. The upkeep of the price of diamonds, a problem of great difficulty, has increased as the sources of supply have become more widely spread. A few years ago De Beers and Jagersfontein supplied 85 per mnt. of the world's diamonds. The present period of depression hits hard the luxury trades aud nono more severely than diamonds. The production in the first half of 1931 was £2.557.547, a decrease of more than £1.500,000 on the corresponding period of 1930. 'J he value per carat fell to 36s for mined stones and 62s 2d for alluvial.