New Diamonds Field.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 11998, 21 February 1903, Page 1 (Supplement)

New Diamonds Field.

Some German capitalists of Bremen, headed by Senator Achelis, have formed a syndicate to work the diamond fields that have recently been discovered in German South-west Africa. The German news- I papers say that it is hoped to develop alio- I ther monopoly at present enjoyed by the great De Beers Company. The discovery of diamonds in German South-west Africa is quite, recent, and little has been made known about this new source of wealth in that colony except that the fields are situated among the mountains in the central part of the colony. It has long been known that Kimberley could not permanently have a mor opoly of the diamond trade. At present it supplies most of the diamonds in the market; but there are several other fields in Kr.uth Africa that promise well, though little or nothing has yet been done to de-.-elop tLein. The Australians also are beginning to work diamond mines in New South Wales, which promise rich returns. The fields of Brazil, at one time the great source of supply, are quite certain to be as productive as ever when modern methods of diamond mining, backed by abundant capital, are introduced there.

Very little has been done to develop diamond mining along the banks of the Vaal river in South Africa., where the diamonds of that country were first discovered. Mines were opened there and they yielded abundantly for two years, until the marvellous richness of the beds at Kimberlev was revealed in 1869. ' The Vaal river is of very little use to the navigators, but it has rolled down in its waters great treasure in diamonds, which led to the discovery of this great source of riches. The Boer farmers often observed the sparkling stones, " mooi klippe," as they called them, along the Vaal river, but never suspected that they were diamonds.

A Boer farmer named Schalk van Niekerk was calling one day at the house of a friend, and seeing the children playing with a pretty stone, expressed his admiration of it. ' Their mother presented it to him. 'This was in 1867. He showed it to a trader named John O'Reilly, who, suspecting that it was more valuable than a mere crystal, took it to. Capetown for examination. The stone was pronounced to be a diamond, and it was sold to the Governor of Cape Colony, Sir Philip Wodehouse, for 2SOCdoI. It was two years later that the famous Star of South Africa, _ now in the possession of the Countess of Dudley, was obtained from a Kaffir sorcerer, who had used it as one of his adornments. Tin's stone weighed uncut, eighty-three carats and sold for 55,000d01. Far north of the Vaal river, along the banks of the Limpopo or Crocodile river, the boundary between the Transvaal colony

j and Maahonaland, diamonds have been ' found, though nothing "whatever as yefc has been done to exploit this held, Eor all that is known, the region along this ' river is as rich in diamonds as the Vaal.

Diamonds have also been found among the mountains of the Transvaal, also at two points in Cape Colony, at Dutoitspan, only two miles to the south-east of Kimberiey, and at Bultfontein. These diggings are less than a quarter of a mile apart.

Two diamond centres have also been discovered in the western part of the Orange River Colony, one of which, Jagersfontein, eighty miles ' from Kimberley, has yielded about 250,000d01. a year, including many fine diamonds. Most of these regions are entirely undeveloped, because the whole interest centred in Kimberley after its richness was discovered. Ihe time is coming, however, whoa these other districts will receive the attention they deserve.

Perhaps the Kimberley mines will never be equalled, but it is quite certain that they will not continue to monopolise the industry. The entire product of this field up to the present year for a period of about thirty-five years is little over fifteen tons of diamonds, having a value in excess of 500,000,000d01. In- a lecture before Harvard and Yale last winter John Hays Hammond, the famous mining expert, said that a box about eight feet square would contain all these diamonds, the net result of mining over 100,000,000 tons of rock, besides the millions of tons of earth moved in exploratory and dead work. The life of the mines cannot yet be determined, but diafliond mining in Kimberley undoubtedly will continue for many years to come.

The largest diamond ever discovered is still in the hands of the De Beers Company, for as yet no bidders have been found for this white elephant. It was found on July 2nd, 1893. It weighs nearly 1000 carats in the rough, or about half a pound avoirdupois, and is 3£ inches long,about as large as an average goose egg. It is impossible to determine the value of a diamond, of this size. It is of good colour, but would not cut well. Diamonds lose from 40 to 60 per cent, of their size in cutting.

Some idea of the value of this great stone may be suggested by the fact that a diamond pi only 180 carats was sold a few years ago by the De Beers Company for 750,000d01. As diamonds increase greatly in value with, increase of size, the larger stone is suprjosed to be worth several times that sum. Perhaps the prize will some day fall into the hands of one of the Indian or other Oriental nabobs, who, as is well known, have many of the finest diamonds in their collections. There is a curious fact connected with the finding of this great stone which illustrates the viscissitudes of diamond mining. The late Barney Barnato had a contract with the De Beers Company for its entire output from noon July, 1892, to roon July 2nd, 1903. He quit the mine when the last minute of his contract tima expired, and three hours later the new syndicate which succeeded him in the work ) found the largest diamond ever discovered.