and
pumps are run by electricity. The washing plant is situated on the
floors about a mile from the mine, and has a capacity of about six
thousand loads per day. In 1905 the shaft was carried down to 814 feet.
The
company did not meet with much encouragement at first, for their
outlay. In 1904 only 3,032 carats were won at an average of .12 of a
carat to the load, valued at 42s. 3d. per carat; 1905 made a much
better showing, with 24,902 carats which brought 69s. lid. per carat
and a yield of .26 of a carat to the load; 1906 gave .25 of a carat
which realized 80s. 11..52d per carat; 1907 at an average of .24 of a
carat to the load, yielded 365,821-1/2 carats; 1908 showed another
slight loss of average yield, it being .23, but the output brought 74s.
5-07d. per carat. The cost of producing in 1905 was very high,
amounting to 47s. 3.3d. per carat, but was reduced nearly half in 1906
to 29s. 2d. per carat, and in 1907 to 27s. per carat. Unfortunately,
just as the mine was becoming important as a producer, and profitable
on account of the good prices the product commanded, the sudden falling
off in the demand for diamonds, decided the management to close it on
April 24, 1908, until business showed some improvement.
The
quality of the diamonds in this mine has improved very materially with
depth. Most of them show color but many are fancy. In the lower
workings also there is an almost entire absence of fragments and broken
crystals. In the eighties, Dutoitspan diamonds brought on an average
about 23s. to 28s. per carat, or twenty-five per cent, more than the
average of the three other Kimberley mines. The output at that time
ranged
