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92
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African Diamonds.
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The total cost of mining and depositing was 5s. 1.7d. per load of blue ground, as against 4.s. 7.7d. for the previous year. The out-put is practically the same as for 1896, while the total expenditure is £$6,000 greater.
Everything
is being and will be done to bring about the same condition of things
in De Beers as in Kimberley Mine. The problems are not the same, for in
the Kimberley Mine the debris had fallen down as the blue ground was
extracted, and had left the hard rock (mela-phyre) exposed to view, and
it could be seen where the streams of water flowed into the open mine ;
but in De Beers no hard rock has yet been exposed, and the miners have
to grope in the dark, as it were, to find out where the water enters
the open or worked-out portion of the mine,
The cost of washing was 2s. 1.8d., as against 2s. 7.9d. per load for the previous year. The average cost of winning and washing the Diamonds was 7s.. 3.5d., as against 7s. 3'6d. per load for the year 1896.
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