The Anaconda standard., 1899-11-07
VAST STORE OF DIAMONDS
Perhaps $1oo,ooo,ooo Worth of
the Gems at Kimberley.
5000 CARATS IN "a HOURS
The Entire Product Now Controlled by
One Corporation-Facts About the
Pure Carbon Deposits and the
Way They Are Worked.


Nobody knows just how much value
in the shape of diamonds is kept in
store at Kimberley, but it is certainly
gigantic. Quite possibly it is s1OO, OO0,-
600 worth. The company has offices in
London, but its headquarters are in
the South African city, and there, in
a building resembling bank, the bulk
Of the gems is kept, stored in the
vaults If only a fraction of them
were offered for sale at once, the price
of diamonds would promptly tumble;
but the great corporation, owning as
1t does deposits which produce 9s per
cent of the worlds entire yield of
these precious stones, Is able to con-
troll the market absolutely, and holds
back a large part of it's output, dis
posing Of only a limited number of
carats per annum.
The yield of the mines is about $500
carats every "a hours, and the dia-
monds obtained from the diggings are
sent daily under an armed escort to
the company's headquarters and there
delivered to the appraiser in charge.
First they are cleaned by boiling them
in a mixture of nitric and sulphuric
acids, and then they are carefully
sorted in respect to size, color and pur-
ity. In one room are kept on exhibition
o0,00o carats, and, as may be imagined
the spectacle they afford is most strik-
ing. Beneath large windows runs a
broad counter covered with sheets OF
white paper, upon which are laid out
ever so many glistening heaps of dia-
nf Iab 40,
are of all shades, from deep yellow to
blue white, from deep brown to light
brown, and in great variety of blues,
greens and pinks.
Great Diamond Trust.
only dozen years ago the Kimber-
ley mines were worked as over 5000
separate claims. each 81 feet square
and separated from each other by mar
row roads for hauling the bearing
| brought about a consolidation of all
these properties into a single corpo-
| ration. which now practically monopo-
| Lies the diamond production of the
world, with capital of $19, 500, ,O00
Two Of the mines, the Du Toits Pan
and the De Beers, are the largest holes
ever sunk in the earth, the mouth of
the former being 10 acres in extent,
while the latter has a yawn of 35 acres
They are lighted by electricity and
the machinery used is Of the most in
genious and powerful description.
From the central shaft of each mine
runs system Of galleries. at various
| levels, like so many burrows, in which
laborers dig out the diamond bearing
earth and load it upon hand cars, the
latter being hauled to the surface with
the help of machinery. This earth is
a blush clay, and as fast as it is
brought to the light Of day it is spread
| VI nyyn, ttn nf%, lnft
for some weeks, though hard and tough
at first, it becomes friable and crumbly
through exposure to sun and moisture,
and the process is helped by going over
it again and again with harrows. When
| at length it has reached a satisfac-
tory condition it is loaded into hand
cars and taken to the huge washing
machines, in which, by means of run
! ming water, the precious stones are
separated from the bulk Of the raw
material. The machines are great watts,
containing centrifugal wheels, Gy
which, as they rapidly revolve, the ma
terial is pulverized, the lighter stuff
being foated off, while the diamonds
and other heavy particles are concen-
trated at the bottom.
Digging Out the Gems.
The concentrate when removed from
the washing machines, is placed In
moist gobs on tables, where 1t is sorted
while wet by white men and again
after it is dry by Kaffirs. The sorters
work with small trowels, and not a
diamond the size of a pin head escapes
their notice Indeed, there is no great
> difficulty involved in this task. mas
much as such gems in their natura
are by no means the dull pebbles theS
are commonly described as being: "
the contrary, though not so brilllan
as when cut by the skilled lapldary
they are very bright and sparkling, IN
deed. After being conveyed to IN
conpanys headquarters they are val
ued and sold in parcels to local BUY
ers, who represent the leading diamond
merchants of Europe. The size or
parcel varies from few thousane
carats up. in one instance, few year:
ago, nearly 250,00o carats were disposed
of in one lot to a single purchaser
The stones are taken to London to ht
cut
Biologists think they know just hoV
the diamonds of the South Africaf
fields were made by nature. The sur
face layer of the earth thereabout
was originally-that Is to say, ages ag
"a carbonaceous shale, or, in othe
words, a kind of rock containing
large percentage Of carbon. AS every
body knows, carbon in its pure state y
the sole material of the diamond. B.
and by volcanic stuff from the bowei
of the earth was yomited up through
the shale and the enormous neat thu