valued
at £1,879,551, principally from the Premier, though 11 other companies
and the alluvial diggings at Christiana contributed. The Premier output
was for their year ending October 31, 2,078,825 carats at 14s. 9d. per
carat.
Orange River Colony product for year ending June 30, 1908, is given as 505,452 carats valued at £1,069,942. Average price per carat fell from 60s. 6-1/2d. to
42s. id., owing to the unstable condition of the diamond market. The
greater part of the product came from the Jagers-fontein, Koffyfontein,
Voorspoed and Roberts Victor mines. The balance came from the Lace,
Ebenezer and Monastery mines and the alluvial diggings. The value of
the latter was 66s. 10-1/2d. per carat. The Roberts Victor Company paid
a dividend of 25 per cent. in March, 1909.
Up
to December 31, 1908, the diamonds found in German South West Africa
are estimated at 40,000 carats worth $269,000. Since then the German
Committee for Colonial Development report that 80 new companies have
been formed. The output for the current year 1909, averaged about
45,000 carats per month and the price has risen from $5.33 to $8 per
carat. In seven months of 1909, 273,701 carats worth nearly $1,904,000
were obtained, from which nearly half the amount was deducted by the
Treasury. In some places there are several layers of the
diamond-bearing pebbly deposits, separated by sand. Of late some
diamonds weighing up to six carats each have been found.
