DIAMOND: OCCURRENCE IN SOUTH AFRICA 



201 



The appearance of water in the mine still further added to the embarrassment of the 

 ■workers, and constituted a difficulty which was quite insuperable so long as the owners of 

 the claims worked independently. The necessity for co-operation was met in 1874 by the 

 institution of the Kimberley Mining Board, a body which undertook all work of public 

 benefit, such as the removal of water, of fallen reef, and of reef about to fall, the expense 

 incurred being shared equally by the owners of the claims. It was about this time that the 

 formation of companies began to take place, although at first this form of co-operation was 

 strongly condemned by individual miners, yet as time went on it became more and more 

 apparent that the increasing difficulties and expense of working could only be overcome in 

 this way. The larger capital at the disposal of the companies enabled them to employ the 

 best machinery and to adopt all the improved modern methods of working, and thus to 

 decrease the working expenses, and at the same time to increase the production. 



Fig. 41. Section through the De Beer's mine. (Scale, 1 



4800.) 



Although the amalgamation of individuals and capital rendered it possible to prolong 

 for a time the system of open workings, yet, as time went on, it became very evident that 

 this system could not be continued indefinitely, and that the open workings would have to 

 be replaced by systematic underground workings, if the treasure hidden away in the depths 

 of the mine was ever to be reached. A very successful beginning was made at the Kimberley 

 mine in 1885, and in 1891, at this same mine, a shaft was driven into the reef to a depth of 

 1261 feet, from which horizontal galleries or tunnels were excavated to meet the diamond- 

 bearing rock. In the section of the underground workings of the Kimberley mine shown 

 in Fig. 40 may be seen these tunnels or galleries, situated partly in the diamantiferous pipe 

 itself and partly in the surrounding reef. The lowest depth at which material could be 

 excavated in the open workings was about 400 feet, so that the construction of the under- 

 ground workings made accessible large quantities of fresh material. Moreover, the new 

 system did away with the liability of the workers to injury from falling reef, and many of 

 the earlier regulations dealing with this danger, became then unnecessary. The same system 

 was also introduced in the De Beer's mine, a section through which is given in Fig. 41, 

 although here the falls of reef had been less troublesome. 



