Diamond Yield

Diamond Yield.

THE YIELD OF DIAMONDS

Sometimes as many as 8000 carats of diamonds come from the pulsator in one day, representing about 20,000 in value (in the 1890s).

When the bare statement is made that nearly 5,000,000 truck-loads, or more than 4,000,000 tons of blue ground, have been washed in a year, the mind only faintly conceives the prodigious size of the mass that is annually drawn from the old craters and laboriously washed and sorted for the sake of a few bucketfuls of diamonds.

It would form a cube of more than 430 feet, or a block larger than any cathedral in the world, and overtopping the spire of St. Paul's, while a box with sides measuring 2 feet 9 inches would hold the gems.  From two to three million carats of diamonds are turned out of the De Beers mines in a year, and as 5,000,000 carats go to the ton, this represents half a ton of diamonds.  To the end of 1892 10 tons of diamonds had come from this mine, valued at 60,000,000 sterling.  This mass of blazing diamonds could be accommodated in a box 5 feet square and 6 feet high.

The diamond is a luxury, and there is only a limited demand for it throughout the world from four to four and a half millions sterling is as much as is spent annually in diamonds ; if the production is not regulated by the demand, there will be over-production, and the trade will suffer.  By regulating the output the directors have succeeded in maintaining prices since the consolidation in 1888.

 From the Kimberley Mine from 1-25 to i'5 De Beers Mine .  1-20 ,, 1*33 ,, Dutoitspan Mine ,, 0*17 ,, 0*5 Bultfontein Mine 0*5 ,, 0*33

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