History of diamond mining in South Africa
History of diamond mining in South Africa
History of diamond mining in South Africa.
Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, Mainz; Thumbnail © Kanpisut Chaichalor/Dreamstime.com
Transcript
1866 - Schalk van Nickerle, a farmer, finds a diamond by the Orange River in South Africa. Fortune seekers soon arrive in their droves, leaving wives and children behind to try their luck on the Orange River. Diamond fever takes hold.
The de Beers family also has a small farm here. They promptly sell it to a diamond prospector for 100 times its original price. The land soon obtains historical significance as the home of South Africa's most important diamond reserves. In next to no time, men from all over the world are digging up the soil. The hole they dug here is 350 meters deep and 500 meters wide, the largest ever created by human hands. Today this mine is long since quiet, but there are many new ones in South Africa. Huge bulldozers continue to move tons of rock in search of the most precious of stones.
Diamonds were formed millions of years ago in the earth's interior. Enormous pressure and temperatures of several thousand degrees transformed carbon into precious gems. Later, volcanoes spewed them upwards. Massive stone mills are needed today to break up the granite boulders. On average, 60 tons of granite yields around 0.2 grams of diamond, corresponding to one carat. The rough diamonds are then placed in a maximum-security facility. None of the employees is permitted to have direct contact with them initially. Sieves with various sized meshed netting separate the stones. Specially trained sorters are the first to arrange the stones by hand, according to their color, size and purity. Twenty-four tons of diamonds are mined throughout the world annually. But demand far exceeds this amount.
This container ship is the future hope of the diamond market. It is headed to Cape Town with an unusual cargo on board, an ultra-light, highly sensitive zeppelin. A company has chartered the zeppelin to search for new diamond reserves from the air. The extremely quiet operation and slow pace of the 75-meter-long vessel make it the ideal platform for measuring instruments. It would seem that South Africa is still in the grip of diamond fever.
The de Beers family also has a small farm here. They promptly sell it to a diamond prospector for 100 times its original price. The land soon obtains historical significance as the home of South Africa's most important diamond reserves. In next to no time, men from all over the world are digging up the soil. The hole they dug here is 350 meters deep and 500 meters wide, the largest ever created by human hands. Today this mine is long since quiet, but there are many new ones in South Africa. Huge bulldozers continue to move tons of rock in search of the most precious of stones.
Diamonds were formed millions of years ago in the earth's interior. Enormous pressure and temperatures of several thousand degrees transformed carbon into precious gems. Later, volcanoes spewed them upwards. Massive stone mills are needed today to break up the granite boulders. On average, 60 tons of granite yields around 0.2 grams of diamond, corresponding to one carat. The rough diamonds are then placed in a maximum-security facility. None of the employees is permitted to have direct contact with them initially. Sieves with various sized meshed netting separate the stones. Specially trained sorters are the first to arrange the stones by hand, according to their color, size and purity. Twenty-four tons of diamonds are mined throughout the world annually. But demand far exceeds this amount.
This container ship is the future hope of the diamond market. It is headed to Cape Town with an unusual cargo on board, an ultra-light, highly sensitive zeppelin. A company has chartered the zeppelin to search for new diamond reserves from the air. The extremely quiet operation and slow pace of the 75-meter-long vessel make it the ideal platform for measuring instruments. It would seem that South Africa is still in the grip of diamond fever.