On our way north from Cape Town, we visited Kimberley, South Africa.
Kimberley is the largest city, and capital of the North Cape Province of South Africa, but from a tourist’s point of view, more importantly, it’s home of the “Big Hole”.
The ‘hole’ started out as a ‘hill’ in 1870s, when a pebble was found, that turned out to be a diamond. One thing led to another, the company that would become De Beers got involved, and a very large mining operation was created.
From 1870 to 1914 thousands of miners dug the hole with picks and shovels, making many people believe it was the largest hole ever dug by hand.
The scale of the mine is quite awe inspiring when you visit in person. They have built a catwalk platform structure that allows you walk safely right to the edge and peer down into the crater.
The water in the hole has a surface area of 42 acres, or 17 hectares. For our metric readers it’s 463 metres or almost half a kilometre wide.
The mine was excavated to a depth of 240 metres, and now water has flooded back into much of it. It has a brilliant emerald green colour.
By the time it was finished the mine had produced 2,600 kg (5,700 lbs) of diamonds. That’s a lot of engagement rings!
The museum at the Kimberley Mine has a replica of the Cullinan Diamond which was the largest gem-quality rough diamond ever found. It was mined in South Africa and weighed 3,106 carats, or 621 grams. Needless to say what we saw was a replica, because clearly a diamond that large today would require a whole different level of security. Even as a replica it was very impressive.
The thought that it was all dug by hand is really quite mind boggling, especially when you consider what modern fossil-fuel powered equipment is capable of today.
Experiences like these remind you of the luxury we live with today compared to not too long ago in human history. We certainly were grateful to have been able to experience so much in South Africa.
Recent Comments