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Ch. 12: Winning the Diamonds

Ch. 12: Winning the Diamonds Page of 396 Ch. 12: Winning the Diamonds Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
14 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
day, leaving its treasure behind. When the bare statement is made that nearly five million truck-loads, or more than four mill­ion tons of blue ground, have been washed in a year, the mind only faintly conceives the prodigious size of the mass that is annually drawn from the old craters and laboriously washed and sorted for the sake of a few bucketfuls of diamonds. It would form a cube of more than 430 feet, or a block larger than any cathedral in the world, and overtopping the spire of St. Paul's,
while a box with sides measuring two feet nine inches would hold the gems.
When the day's work is completed, the pans, through each of which three hundred loads have passed, are emptied or "cleaned up," and the concentrated deposits of diamonds, mingled with the other heavy but valueless minerals, are then
Ch. 12: Winning the Diamonds Page of 396 Ch. 12: Winning the Diamonds
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