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Sec. II, Ch. 2: The African Diamond

Sec. II, Ch. 2: The African Diamond Page of 366 Sec. II, Ch. 2: The African Diamond Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
African Diamonds.                             83
by scraping the soil with his knife. A rush natur­ally ertsued, and the locality became known as " Colesberg Kopje," or the "New Rush," while the surrounding town, which to meet the wants of the new comers sprang up with mushroom - like celerity, received the name of Kimberley, in compliment to the Earl of Kimberley: at that 'time H.M.'s Secretary of State for the Colonies. The town of Kimberley lies between the workings of the Kimberley mine and De Beers. Bultfontein, one of the earliest mines, originally belonged to Mr. Du Plooy, who sold it in 1870.
Early in 1891 Diamonds were discovered on the farm known as Benaudheidfontein, in the district of Kimberley, and as this farm was the property of Mr. J. J. Wessels, senior, the mine came to be krfown as the Wesselton.
The site of each Diamond mine is a more or less circular area, surrounded by horizontal shales, the edges of which are slightly turned upwards round the margin of the area. This evidently suggests that the shales, which were originally horizontal, have been pushed aside by the intrusion of, matter forced from below. Indeed, all geologists now maintain that the Diamond-bearing rock is of eruptive origin, being probably to some extent a kind of volcanic mud, and has passed upwards in columnar pipes, and been thrust through the surrounding shales.
The upper portion of each pipe was found to consist of the reddish sandy soil of the country, and below this came a layer of calcareous tufa, or a light deposit of carbonate of lime ; and it was by no means uncommon to find Diamonds adherent to this tufaceous rock. At a still lower depth, the main contents of the pipe were reached, which consisted in large part of an altered volcanic rock, in places much broken up, and passing into a breccia. The
Sec. II, Ch. 2: The African Diamond Page of 366 Sec. II, Ch. 2: The African Diamond
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