The Portland daily press., 1899-11-29
THE KIMBERLEY MINES.
Process of Getting Ont the Gems-Tre-
mendous Damage the Beers Might
Do.
New York SUM-

The military objective Of the Beers who
surround Kimberley 10 the destruction OF
the diamond mines from which Cecil
Rhodes draws his wealth and, II pos
sibls, to ospture MIR. Rhodes himself.
The mines within the limits Of the oity
Of Kimberley furnish per cent. OF the
worlds supply OF diamonds and are
unique In two ways. The ID, Bees and
Kimberley mines are probably the two
biggest holes ever dug In the earth by
man, and the deposit In which they are
dug Is the only one known In the whole
world where the diamond is found In the
original matrix In which 1t va, formed.
Since the chemist Moissan has succeeded
In making artificial diamonds. We oan
now form some idea Of how nature
worked In making thess dep ,sits, and It
Is believed that the diamonds found In
the "bIue earth" Of Kimberley were
crystaliz sd there while the whole mass
was held under enormous pressure within
the more than white hot interior OF
mountain OF Ere. When the workings
were begun at Kimberley the diamonds
were found in disintegratsd "earth" at
and near the surface, but as the workings
were dec pened ths "blue earth" was
found In Its native state, rock-like and
recurring to be blasted to be taken out.
When the ID, Beers ana Kimberley
mines reached depth BY open working
CT something like 8 o feet and an area OF
thirteen to fourteen acres each, that
method OF procedure was abandoned and
a new system begun Of working from
shatts dug to the blue ground deposits at
some distance from the original pits and
working these by TRANSVERSE drisings.
Some of these shafts go down to q depth
of /. 500 feet Great care has to be taken
10 prevent these Workings being nlied
OPP ~ n oaving Of the upper soil about
them, ana 1t would be easy for the Beers
not only to destroy millions OF collars
worth OF mining machinery ABOUT the PIT
mouths, but also to I'LL up the pits so that
it would be q work OF years to resume
diamond Rathsriug. 10 the Oh Gays,
when the open pits were worked, these
were strung with miles and miles OF wire
On bles, which ssrved as roadways py
which men and material were sent baos
or forth from the workings hundrsds oil
feet below. All OF that has changed and
much more expensive and elaborate hoist-
log machinery Is used now
When the blue ground ra,hes the sur
face It is still! long way from yielding
up Its store o? diamonds crushing ~
timely enough to reveal all the gems it
holds hidden. would be out OF the ques-
ton, 70. ty such process the bigger
diamonds would be ruined. Nature,
however. stands ready to help. and the
blue sar til softens readily under exposure
to sunshine and moisture. FOR this pur-
pose great hat fields ara prepared on the
surface within the mine compounds,
where ths blue earth 10 taken on little
cars and dumped out as one might spread
top soil to make Lawn. These "noors
as they ara called, cover about 600 acres.
The floors are covered with diamondifsr-
Gus earth TO a depth Of about q foot.
When the larger pieces begin to orumbie
under the IL q fences OF sun ana moisture
heavy horse hRrrows are set to work
upon the earth, and the scene Ia Ike that
on a farm in the spring when the planter
Is getting ready to put In his crops. 1t
takes from three to six months exposure
to prepare the blue ground for the
process OF searching out the diamonds.
Running water 10 the first agent us,d
In this search. Elaborate and costly
washing machines, designed by Amerl-
cans. do this work, and out OF perhaps
each one hundred tons Of earth these will
gather ana save one ton q what looks
like coarse sand and bloc pebbles.
Another machine separates these INTO
lots Of four different sizes and these then
20 to the asserting tables. where lot OF
whits men sort them while they are wet
and another lot OF black men 60 over
them when they are dry. picking out the
Diamonds and discardins all other mat
ter. Then they ara all boiled 10 mix
ture Of nitric and srlphuric acids to
clean their surfaces, after which they are
again gone over BY experts, who afelt
them for size, COLOR and purity. ihs
daily prod notiou of ths consolidated
mines l. about 8 so carats, worth at S4o
q carat. s1eo. 90.