RICH DIAMOND FIELD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26199, 9 July 1946, Page 5

RICH DIAMOND FIELD

SOUTH OF LAKE VICTORIA AUSTRALIAN’S GOOD FORTUNE (Rec. 7 p.m.) LONDON, July 7. A middle-aged Australian prospector, Dr J. P. Williamson, who Johannesburg diamond syndicates turned down when he asked for assistance in developing his Tanganyika diamond concessions, turned the tables by tearing up a cheque for £1,000,000 which the syndicate’s representative offered him for an interest in his main mine. He said to the representative: “Add another £5,000.000 to the offer, and I might possibly talk.” * According to the Dar-es-Salaam correspondent of the Daily Express; Williamson, went to Tanganyika eight years ago with university training in geology and theory, has uncovered a vast diamond field in Shinyanga Valley, south of Lake Victoria, which Government officials confirm has already produced more than £1,000,000 worth of diamonds

Williamson told the English company with which he first worked that they were prospecting in the wrong place. He went off on his own, and for five years 100 miles south of the equator wandered through, drilling and digging. Williamson caught blackwater fever, became heavily in debt, and lived in a-native hut.' Africans called him “ the white man of no fortune.” He then in Shinyanga and Usukuku Valleys struck alluvial deposits with diamonds just below the surface—unlike Kimberley, where the diggings are over 1000 feet deep. He had struck “ pip.” Williamson rushfcd to Dar-es-Salaam and registered the claim. Williamson Diamond Mines, Ltd., is now selling £109.000 worth of diamonds a month, and the output is rising.