![]() Kimberley was home to great wealth, and many great rivalries in the 1870s and 1880s. Today, The Big Hole is a well-known tourist attraction.Ī GROUP OF MINERS WITH THEIR SORTING TABLES, TRAYS AND TOOLS In just a few years, South Africa yielded more diamonds than India had in over 2,000 years, with Kimberley, at the time, being responsible for producing 95% of the world’s diamonds. Almost circular in shape with a perimeter of 2km, it is 215m deep, and is situated in the centre of the town. The Big Hole is considered the world’s deepest man-made hole. ![]() More than 22 million tonnes of earth was removed from what is now known as “The Big Hole” in Kimberley, and approximately three tonnes of diamonds were removed. These events led to the Great Kimberley Diamond Rush, where people from all over the world gathered in Kimberley to make money mining diamonds in South Africa. TRANSPORT METHODS FOR MINERS WORKING IN THE OPEN CAST MINE Although the brothers did not become the owners of diamond mines, their name, De Beers, was given to one of the mines, and today, the De Beers name is still synonymous with the diamond industry worldwide. Unable to protect their land from the masses of people flocking upon it, they decided to sell their property. The discovery led to a diamond rush, with people from various parts of South Africa intruding on their land in the hope of finding their very own diamonds. It was named the Eureka Diamond, and is the single most important diamond in the history of South Africa.Ī few years later, Johannes Nicolaas de Beer and his brother Diederik Arnoldus De Beer, two Dutch settlers, discovered diamonds on their farm. William Guybon Atherstone confirmed that it was a 21.24 carat diamond. Not realising its value, he sent it, via ordinary mail, to Grahamstown, where Dr. Van Niekerk found the stone to be very intriguing and offered to buy it from the Jacobs family. Erasmus showed the stone to his father, who in turn showed it to a neighbourhood farmer, Schalk van Niekerk. In 1867, a 15-year-old boy named Erasmus Jacobs found a small transparent rock along the banks of the Orange River, near his farm where he lived with his family. The first diamond discoveries in South Africa were alluvial, meaning they were found as deposits along a river bed. THE DISCOVERER OF THE FIRST DIAMOND IN SOUTH AFRICA: ERASMUS STEPHANUS JACOBS ![]() Today, South Africa continues to be one of the world’s major producers, and it is estimated that up to 65% of the world’s diamonds were mined from an African mine. Before diamonds were discovered in Kimberley, they were extremely rare, and were only found in small quantities in India and Brazil. The discovery of diamonds in South Africa played a pivotal role in the world’s diamond history. ![]()
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