others
of the Kimberley group. In 1902, 3 natives were killed and 6,989 feet
of tunnels filled. The rock shaft at that time was down 1,784 feet, and
the mine was worked from 11 levels at 40-ft. intervals, from 1,100 to
1,400 feet deep. 15,506 feet of new tunnels were cu.. They had in sight
above the 1,400-foot level, 1,289,500 loads of blue, and had, developed
between that and the 1,720-foot level, 3,375,400 loads, a total
of 4,664,900 loads in sight June 30, 1902. The cost of mining,
depositing and washing that year was 9s. o.9d. per load,
1/10
of a penny per load more than the year previous and a little more than
2s. in excess of the Kimberley cost for the same year, which was 7s.
8.6d. per load.
In
1904 the rock shaft was down to 2,076 feet. In 1903 a tunnel was made
around the mine in the hard rock under the shale, the same as in the
Kimberley mine, to take up the water from the mud-rushes.
According
to the annual reports published by the company, the combined yield
percentage of the De Beers and Kimberley has declined steadily since
the consolidation, the lowest averages in the history of the mines
being those of 1907 and 1908, which were alike, .34 of a carat to the
load. At the same time the cost per load has increased in the last ten
years from 6s. 7.4d. in 1898 to 9s. o.8d. in 1907.
The
upper part of the De Beers mine was very poor. Some parts of it
contained so few diamonds that it did not pay to work them. At two to
three hundred feet, there was a marked improvement, which was
maintained for a long time, and the fact probably gave rise to the
general report, yet circulated with regard to the Kimberley group,
that the blue is richer than the yellow was,
