Faded Glory

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I made the jaw-dropping descent for 3 ½ minutes into impenetrable darkness.  We were entombed in a small Otis elevator like so many sardines in a can - increasingly sweating and packed as though fresh from the cannery. All around was rattling and the flash of markers as we dropped deeper and deeper into the encompassing granite -schist. I was reminded of the commotion on an old wooden roller coaster except this was for real, people died here in this terrifying hole. Collapse, explosives,  gasses and the searing temperatures were all threatening my existence. A collapse in 1893 killed 13 people, though for the most part fatalities went unrecorded. At a depth of 2700 feet, in what felt like a sopping velvet our tiny satellite slid to a stop, accompanied by the finality of a drawn-out, metallic groan. Was the cage still operable I wondered? Would I ever return to the surface?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If it were possible to see the diamond pipe from its side you would distinguish a roughly carrot shape, wider at the top and narrowing as it penetrates the earth more deeply. The intrusion is a bluish rock known as kimberlite, relatively soft and easily eroded on the surface, but carrying diamonds from about a hundred miles beneath.

 

I was visiting the Bultfontien Mine, one of the 6 mines in DeBeer's "Kimberly Division", centered around the North Cape town of Kimberly in South Africa. Kimberly grew around a vast sunken hole, the "Big hole", or as the Afrikaans locals call it "Groot Gat", from which DeBeers had made its fortune. Though diamonds had initially been discovered alongside the nearby Vaal and Orange Rivers, in the mid 1800's, it was not until a union between two great competitors, Barny Barnato and Cecil Rhodes that DeBeers formed as a company; by the 1920s, it then controlled 90% of the world's diamond production.

Equipped with a lamp, dressed in blue overalls, and wearing a white helmet, I had a Cesar Hoya (“Help me to breath”) contraption strapped to my waist. The Cesar Hoya was guaranteed to give me 45 minutes of oxygen should I need it! I was already gasping, the heat and humidity were oppressive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exiting the elevator, we made our way along rock tunnels guided by a red line. It is easy to lose one's sense of direction underground we were told, and indeed I was soon following the group without a clue as to where we had come from, pushing through the dark curtains that enveloped us.  As we walked, talking seriously hampered by the massive boom of explosions. It was like underground artillery bombardment as the detonations were both frequent and unpredictable. I understand that this is the only tour that can be taken in an operable underground diamond mine (Cancelled 2007). The air seemed heavier and much hotter as we moved further into the mine.

A 'Refuge Chamber' loomed up beside us, it was where people could come for food supplies, first aid and fresh air should there be a collapse or other many possible catastrophies. Need I say I was pleased to see it.  Up to 50 miners could survive for up to a week in this chamber with its separate  air system. My fast beating heart slowed somewhat when I heard that it had yet to be used.

When we reached the rockface where mining was underway, a film of dust blanketed everything, wire netting was nailed overhead to close off caverns in which the diamond bearing pipes were exposed. Shockcrete and bolting kept loose rock from collapsing in on us. I was sweating in my overalls and on looking up into the darkness from our eerily lit cave, I saw a man standing high above us watching from the darkness. 

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Here in the Bultfontein Mine tailings are removed by way of a process called "Block Caving". Deep toward the tip of this kimberlite carrot a series of parallel tunnels known as "extraction drives" are blasted. At regular intervals cone shaped hollows known as "Draw Bells" are fashioned and above those draw bells the underside of the carrot's tip is pulverized by sequential blasts that ripple through the rock. By this undermining of the rock, it collapses under gravity and the enormity of its own weight and is extracted through the draw bells and down into the underlying tunnels that rim the pipe. On the surface the ground above the pipe subsides in proportion to the efforts far below - a giant sinkhole in the rock! The nearby mine Duitspan also shares the extraction shaft with diamond bearing tailings proceeding to the surface by way of a common conveyor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a tough industry and profits are now dropping like a cannonball. It takes 10 ½ tons of rock to yield only a handful of diamonds and these would sell for between $1,000 a carat to $10,000 a carat, depending on the quality of the gem. In this same mine, the largest diamond ever found – a 616 carat yellow diamond – was discovered by an indigenous miner. For his discovery he received the maximum reward of $10,000 and a home for his family.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At this time DeBeers employees over 30,000 people, about 8000 in Botswana and 6000 in South Africa, but its struggling to cope with a collapsing market. Industrial diamonds seem to be at the crux of their failings. In 1994 there were accusations of collusion with General Electric and in 2008 further legal problems of a similar nature resulting in a fine of $295M (US). In the first 6 months of 2025 DeBeers announced a $189M loss and Anglo American, the majority share holder, is looking to sell everything to a responsible buyer.

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You might recall the phrase, "A diamond is forever", this was coined by DeBeers in response to a huge oversupply of diamonds in the early 1900s. At the time opal was the gem of choice for engagement rings. The opal market existed on a small supply coming from Hungarian mines. DeBeers bought the Hungarian mines and closed them. They saw an inexhaustable market for diamonds in what had been the opal market and for a time opal lost popularity due to a smear campaign, implying that they were an unlucky stone. well I suppose "ever dog has its day" and now its diamond that sits on the "chopping block".

 

While listening to the tour guide's story about South Africa's diamonds - as fascinating as it was - I decided that this would be my last ever descent into a mine.  Leaving the proximity of the working face, its noise, dust and fumes we traipsed toward the elevator and it was then that  I heard the melodious tones of an African miner singing, deep and strong and weary. His shift was over and several companions joined him in a symphony of the depths, their beautiful voices echoing along the rock passages, imprinting on my mind forever.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted by Anne Gordon on Sunday, 26th December, 2010