|
MEN AND MINES
|
||
|
|
||
|
Consolidated
Mines, tells me the story of people who first came upon the "yellow
ground." "Blue ground" was unknown at the time. These people dug down
for about forty feet until they came to the water level, where-
they found the blue ground. Now it so happens that the "yellow" is the
same as the blue except that it has been oxidized by the circulation of
water through higher ground. Therefore the miners, convinced they had
hit bottom, gave up their claims. Some of them, fearing that others
would discover the blue ground, hurriedly shoveled the yellow stuff
over it and then sold their claims at any price. Buyers, many of whom
knew the true significance of the blue ground no better than the
sellers, bought them up and profited.
But
before we talk too much about these diggings and about the mines as
they are today deep in the earth, there are a few other sources of
diamonds to be touched upon.
Borneo.
Ancient mines are still being worked there. One estimate is that they
produce about 1500 carats a year. Malays and Chinese work the mines at
slave wages.
Australia.
Some diamonds were discovered "down under" in the southeastern part of
the island continent. These, few as they are, are said to be of the
hardest quality. But only about a thousand carats come out of Australia
a year.
Russia.
From time to time there have been reports of a few diamond crystals
having been found in the Ural Mountains. But either the deposits
haven't been exploited properly or there simply isn't the potential
supply to warrant any great effort to produce them.
United
States. Don't laugh, but diamonds have been found in the United States.
In southwestern Arkansas a small deposit of diamonds was discovered in
1906, and the pipe of blue ground examined by geologists was surprisingly like that of South Africa. It was worked by surface methods
(27)
|
||
|
|
||