Mexico weekly ledger., 1907-07-25
MINING
AS IT is TO-DAY
How THE WORLDS GREATEST
PITS ARE WORKED Ann Tag
RESULTS soRTKD-TRICKs
REsoRTED TO BY HAT
IVES TO STEAL SPEC
TALLY coon FIND.
A London Syndicate Contracts to
Take the Entire Output and
zsst Of the Cutting They
Rave Done in Kurops

The ssesy Of the Kimberly diamond
mines began two generations ago,
when two hands OF Boer immigrants
fed out Of Cape Colony to escape
British rule.
one OF them settled on . patch Of
gold 20 miles in extent winch has
since become the famous Rand and
yields q hundred million dollars ever
year in the precious metal.
On the other hanG, Bursher Jacobs
~od-saddled on 4 hundred acres Of dlz-
monds, aud his little calm today con-
tains an absolute monopoly in these
gems
His children used 20 play In tho
sand With bright pebbles for marbles
NeighbpT Schalk VanNeikirk saw enc
Of the stones, took It from the little
ones, with the remark that 1t might
be valuable, and the following year
1t was on show at the Universal Ex-
position Of Paris as a magnificent
diamond OF Il carats
HUGE FORTUNES.
Two years later old yanNeikirk
himself picked out Of the mud plaster
OF neighbor DuToit's hut the famous
Star Of Africa, which sold for $4,000.
That was the BEGINNING OF the dia-
nond mines, and the bottom OF the
blue funnel has not yet been reached.
Both blue and yellow earths, studded
with diamonds like a geologic. Ssd-
ding, 7 Supposed to be volcanic
Holes for blasting are drilled. and
after the blasts are touched OF the
crushed blue ground is conveyed to
the mine shaft, 1900 feet from the
tunnels. Here the ore is dumped into
buckets on wheels and drawn out OF
tie mines by powerful engines. You
will see thousands OF men, mostly
negroes, earning s1.35 q day, perched
upon the blue ground rock in the
tunnels, patientlyd drilling with ham
mel and chiSel.
Great stretches Of ground known a.
the floors are marked of like tennis
courts 10 receive the precious ore; for
air, rain and sun will do the work Of
disintegration as no costly machinery
could do 1t. One mine alone has five
miles Of dumping flooB. Upon their
smooth surface is spread the blue clay !
TO the depth Of a foot, and after sew
eral months II crumbles and releases
the indestructible CRYSTALS within,
such as diamonds, earnets, olivines
and other stones OF lesser value usual.
~ found associated with the most pre-.
clOus ofall gems.
The disintegration process is helped
by narrowing with steam plows, an
all such ground as remains obdurate
goes into the crushing machine. The
washing gear isa marvel OF ingenuity;
and as the dirt and gravel pass down
its plane the diamonds are arrested by
a tallow coating. This fat Is then
scrsped OF and melted in . caldron,in
whose bottom the diamonds are found
like precious grounds in a gigantic
coffee cup.
They are taken from here to the
general officers Of the monopoly and
according to value and size.
Stones worth 500, 900 have been wash
ed in a single day.
But even the waste earth Is not yet
done with. This is specially treated
lest tallow and machinery alike
should have overlooked anything of
value. That the precaution Is worth
while is seen from the fact that dia-
nonds worth 1,4OOO,o00 were recover
from these tailings last year.
CUTTING THE STONES.
A London syndicate contracts to
lake the entire output Of the mines,
md all cutting In done In the Contin-
mt Of Europe Chiefly In Amsterdam
md Antwerp. The stones vary enor-
nously in quality and fetch In the
'ough from s1.5o to $500 a karat.
There is a very little leakage, conf
the ~stupendous scale on
which the diamond mining is done.
.ne year, however, q negro sorter was Z
iound TO have swallowed $500 worth {
Il stones, but a colleague broke this
ecord by swallowing 34s karats Of dia- J
nonds, worth $500.
The Kafflrs are constantly devising !
lew modes Of smuggling. They will !
DAD their pipe bowls with small dia- :
nonds under q layer OF tobacco and !
-Igorously puff smoke TO divert suspi- !
ion. i
Leaves Of books have been SO cut I
hat no q would think dlamonds 9
we're concealed betweens them. Other I
Enugglers have gone so far as to In :
lict serious cuts upon themselves and !
TUT valuable stones into these
Wounds -Tne World OF To-day. .