|
CHAPTER XIII
|
||
|
|
||
|
OBSTACLES AND PERILS
N
the open workings the imminent hazard of maiming and death by reef
slides was ever hanging over the heads of the miners. In view of the
rashness with which the pit sinking was pressed, it was a marvel,
indeed, that the actual loss of life was, on the whole, so small. No
complete or accurate records were ever kept of the men injured or
killed in prosecuting the work before the advent of systematic mining.
In
the journals of the Diamond Fields the most noteworthy casualties were
recorded, and it is seen that in the years immediately following the
undertaking of underground mining, the principal loss of life occurred
from the falls of loosened pieces of blue ground or reef. This is
expressly noted in the report of the Inspector of Mines at Kimberley to
the Assistant Commissioner of Crown Lands on August 27, 1885.
Underground mining operations in Kimberley and De Beers mines were
then, he observed, becoming very hazardous. In both mines, but
especially in the Kimberley mine, " some of the underground working
places in diamantiferous ground are huge caverns of from 25 to 52 feet
in height and 20 to 30 feet in width. The roofs of these workings, from
exposure to atmosphere, shocks of blasting, and inherent weakness of
the blue or diamantiferous ground, are becoming extremely unsafe ;
occasionally pieces of the ground or rock fall from the high roof or
sides, to the imminent danger of persons working on the floors. During
the last and current months there have been three deaths in
underground working places directly due to the dangerous operations
24
|
||
|
|
||