From these figures it appears that these mines, since the year 1889, have produced an initial value in the world's commerce of over §250,000,000; and that the cost of selling the rough diamonds, and of cutting and polishing, and the new advance in the price of diamonds being added, this initial value represents fully $(500,000,000 to $700,000,000 by the time the jewels reach the wearers.
Transvaal mines. An account was given in the last report" of this Bureau of the great new Premier mine in the Pretoria district of the Transvaal. Two articles have recently appeared in the Engineering and Mining Journal relating to this mine, one bv' Mr. C. A. Troge* and the other by Mr. T. Lane Carter,'' whose description of the Vaal River diamond workings was also reviewed in the last report.'' These articles fully confirm the remarkable accounts before published as to the extent of this great mine, which covers an area of over 70 acres, and the}' describe the progress in equipment and development during 1904.
The mine lies about 21 miles east of Pretoria, (5 or 7 miles from a small station, Van der Merwe, on the railroad to Delagoa Bay. Access to it thus far has been only by team over a rough country, but a branch is soon to be built from the railroad which will greatly reduce the cost of supplies and fuel.
Premier {Transvaal). Theannual report of this great new mine was presented to the shareholders at Johannesburg on January 3, 1905. It is only the second report, but it shows the extraordinary development of this mine within the short time in which it has been operated.
a Mineral Resources C. S. for 1903, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1904, pp. 917-918.
bEng. and Min. Jour., July 28, 1904.
clbid., Aug. 25, 1904.
d Mineral Resources, loc, cit. pp. 918-919.
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