The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-03-11
DIAMONDS!
Where They Are Found, How
They Are Mined, and Why
They Are Increasing in Value.

L
to diamonds has made wise invest
ment That diamonds have advance
5. in price during the past few years,
a fact; but they will go still higher
/ The reason for this is obvious: It i
:, not because they are being stored an
the price forced up for the benefit o
, a few; but it is because they are no
being found in such quantities as il
!, the past, and because lin spite of tn
advance in price, the demand is steadi
ly increasing.
This is positive proof that the Amer
lean people do not believe in the the
) Dry that the Syndica te" is putting
away a reserve stock and circulating
false reports as to the output of the
mines. This idea is an erroneous one
and it is known for a positive fact
that such is not the case.
While the price of diamonds today
Is considered high; they are not nearly
so expensive as forty years ago, and
| considering the advancement made in
| cutting-whfch gives a greater bril-
| liancy, thereby making more beau
| tiful stone-the price today is very
| reasonable compared to forty or fifty
years ago.
Everyone is interested in diamonds.
| whether they possess one or not, and
the following may be of interest to
you.
Until 1928 all the diamonds came from
India; in that year the Portuguese dis
covered them in Brazil, and soon the
output of Brazil equaled that of India.
Judging by the standards of today,
however. the output was exceedingly
small and up to forty years ago polish
ed stones of one karat or over cost
far more than they do today, although
the cutting was inferior.
In the spring of 1868 a child found a
bright pebble on the banks of the
Orange river in South Africa. This
pebble. after many wanderings, came
to the notice of a mineralogist who
pronounced it a diamond. Immediate
ly there was a rush for the Orange
river country, and people fairly swarm-
ed into the Orange and Vaal river val
leys Prospectors roamed over the
country, and three years after, in the
district where the City of Kimberly
now stands, diamonds were found in
quantities and four mines located.
These mines are huge pipes running |
down int the ground for more than |
a thousac4 feet, and are the craters
OF extinct volcanoes, and filed with
lava or "osue ground" in which is
found the diamond
These four mines. the kimberly ;,
d. Beers" "Dutoitspan'' and .sBul-
foniein,' with another mine called the
Js1gersfontein' which is about eighty
mics away, furnish 95 per cent of all
the diamonds found in the world until
1890. when the "Wesselton'' mine was
disc overed situated near Kimberly.
TT csc six mines were practically the
only producers of diamonds in GUAM
tity until 1902, when the Premier"
mine was found, near Pretoria.
-AAS al ~ III hIl1DorIY district
consisted Of digging out the blue
ground with a pickax pulverizing it
and sorting out the diamonds every
man for himself
AS the workings grew in depth the |
sides caved in, and claims near the
edge OF the mine became covered with
ieDr1S- Then companies were formed to |
work several or more claims, and these
o one company called the DE Beers
Mines by Cecil J.
rhodes, who with three others, Bar
ett l, Baranato, Alfred Belt. and S.
9. p Stow, acquired net only The. con
rol. but the actual ownership of this
htlre property, which at that time
as valued at about $120 600. Mr.
modes ran the company until his
eath, when Alfred Belt took charge
M IS now at the head of the com
any.
The only diamond mine outside of
Re De Beers Company, worth men
onlng is the Premier mine near
retorla, where few months ago the
fgest diamond ever found was dis
'vered. weighing 8. OPS karats (about
1-2 pounds).
ihls mine located in 1902 is an indie
'hueht company, and produces $4,000
oo'ooo karats per month of inferior
aI1ohds' mostly small; they have a
lilhg value of about one-half as much
II karat as the De Beers" stones III
Inc way the mining is conducted to- ~
y is to hoist cars. filed with blue ~, ;"
ound, to the surface Cthe mines are %
pm 1000 to 1900 feet deep: these cars q
n on rails to the floors" We
ne Tours are huge enclosed pens,
ofed with wire netting. acres in ex- Il
IT, Inc blue ground lays for six or
'ht months, until the sun and rain "a
'ipteSrate il. then the diamonds NAVY IN,
found n,
mere are about 10000 men who work me
'he DE Beers Company. who sign | S9
l'facts for six months or more. and | hor
IN the time they enter the emn1ov 7