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340 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
At
Kimberley mine, the maximum output from one shaft was 1,600,422 loads
for the year ending December 31, 1893, hoisted from a depth of 1000
feet. These figures do not include the waste or "reef" which is taken
out, amounting to 100,651 loads from De Beers mine and 64,799 loads
from Kimberley mine during the year.
During
the month of November, 1898, 208,013 loads of blue ground equal to
166,410 tons of 2000 pounds, were hoisted through the two skip
compartments of De Beers rock shaft and from a depth of 1200
feet. The winding stops from Saturday night at eleven o'clock until
Monday morning at six. The average number of loads of blue ground
hoisted per houi was 349. The average daily output for a full day's
work was 8376 loads, and for Saturdays 5933. The best day's record was
9790 loads, the best week's record was 50,450. In the above records no
account has been taken of stoppages during working hours nor is the
quantity of waste, which was 11,992 loads during the month, taken into
account. Previous to this the best month's production was from De
Beers mine, in November, 1897, a total of 197,173 loads from the
1200-foot level. In Kimberley mine, the best records for a month were
in November, 1893, when 157,847 loads were taken from the 1000-foot
level, working three shifts of eight hours each per day, and 108,627
loads from the 1200-foot level in May, 1895, working twelve hours per
day.
The
best week's record from Kimberley mine, winding by day only, was 27,418
loads in sixty-nine hours from the 1520-foot level for the week ending
September 22, 1897. No account has been taken of any lost time.
From
the above figures it will be observed that all records have been broken
for winding ground through a single shaft with two skip compartments.
Labor and Wages
The
following table shows the average number of men employed in and about
the mines worked by De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited, during the
year ending June 30, 1897 : —
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