Diamond Mines in South Africa - Premier Mine, Jagersfontein Mine, Big Hole, Koffiefontein Mine, Baken Diamond Mine, Du Toit's Pan (Paperback)

Chapters: Premier Mine, Jagersfontein Mine, Big Hole, Koffiefontein Mine, Baken Diamond Mine, Du Toit's Pan, Venetia Diamond Mine, Finsch Diamond Mine. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 26. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: The Premier Mine is an underground diamond mine owned by Petra Diamonds. It is situated in the town of Cullinan, 40 kilometres east of Pretoria, Gauteng Province, South Africa. Established in 1902, it was renamed the Cullinan Diamond Mine in November 2003 in celebration of its centenary. The mine rose to prominence in 1905, when the Cullinan Diamond at the time the largest gem diamond ever was discovered here. It is also the only significant source of blue diamonds in the world. The discovery of the mine occurred in 1890 by a Dutchman named Fabricius. He was actually prospecting for Henry Ward, who had an option to purchase the Wessels estate within a certain amount of time. However, Mr. Ward did not have any money to actually purchase the land and could have only done so if the land held diamonds, since it would be easy to find investors for it then. Ward became very fortunate when only a small part of the Wessels estate actually fell within the Cape Colony, and it was upon that portion of the land that the mine was discovered. Scores of sanitary pits had been dug close to the mine, but never on the mine itself, and therefore the mine had never been discovered until Fabricius dug a random hole of 10 feet deep through limestone and the yellow ground was found. Although Ward had all the rights as agreed with Wessels when buying the bond for the land, things were not that simple. Scores of pits a few feet in size were dug, and people refused to leave the land even though they did not have any rights. The fight became more complex because the mine was only a few hun...More: http: //booksllc.net/?id=313401