South Africa

The 1867 discovery of diamonds in the Cape Colony, now a province in South Africa, radically modified not only the world's supply of diamonds but also its conception of them. As annual world diamond production increased more than tenfold in the following 10 years, a once extremely rare material became more accessible to Western society with its growing wealth, science learned that diamonds came from volcanoes, and everyone learned of Cecil John Rhodes, Barney Barnato, Kimberley, and De Beers. Today South Africa maintains its position as a major diamond producer.

The story of diamonds in South Africa begins between December 1866 and February 1867, when 15-year-old Erasmus Jacobs found a transparent stone on his father's farm, on the south bank of the Orange River. Over the next 15 years, South Africa yielded more diamonds than India had in over 2,000 years. This great outpouring of diamonds coincided with depletion of Brazilian deposits and with a great rise in wealth, particularly in the United States, that ensured diamond prices did not fall as they did when Brazil outproduced diamond demand in the 1730s.

Plan of concessions and claims at the Kimberley mine from June 30, 1883. click to zoom inThe first diamond discoveries in South Africa were alluvial. By 1869, diamonds were found far from any stream or river, first in yellow earth and below in hard rock called blueground, later called kimberlite, after the mining town of Kimberley.

In the 1870s and 1880s Kimberley, encompassing the mines that produced 95% of the world's diamonds, was home to great wealth and fierce rivalries, most notably that between Rhodes and Barnato, English immigrants who consolidated early 31-foot-square prospects into ever larger holdings and mining companies. In 1888, Rhodes prevailed and merged the holdings of both men into De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd., a company that is still synonymous with diamonds. Today South Africa is third in production in terms of value and is likely to stay that way for the foreseeable future.

The Kimberley mine in 1873. Visible are the roadway and the square claims which were 31 feet on a side, creating a terrain of holes and walls that made mining difficult and hazardous. From "The Diamond Mines of South Africa," G.F. Williams, New York, 1906. click to zoom in

Barney Barnato arrived in South Africa from England in 1873 at the age of 20. In 1876 he bought four claims in the Kimberley mine. He made a huge profit and later formed the Barnato Diamond Mining Co., which he merged with Kimberley Central Mining Co. in 1883. In competition, Rhodes sold one of his companies to Barnato's Kimberley Central but his retained interests gave Rhodes a 20% share in Kimberley Central. Rhodes and Barnato battled viciously for the remaining stock. In 1889, Barnato sold out to Rhodes for £5,338,650, at that time $25,000,000, paid with the largest check ever issued at that time. In 1896, Barnato disappeared at sea while on passage back to England, a presumed suicide.

In 1870, at the age of 17, Cecil John Rhodes followed his brother to South Africa. There he purchased diamond claims and became prosperous pumping water from the deepening, flooded claims in Kimberley. After expansion of his holdings and competition with Barney Barnato, Rhodes went on to form De Beers Consolidated Mines. He became prime minister (some say dictator) of the Cape Colony, and dedicated his final years to the creation of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). In 1902 at age 49, Rhodes died a very controversial figure. From "The Diamond Mines of South Africa," G.F. Williams, New York, 1906.

South African Production:

Total: 505 million carats

Annual 1870: 269,000 carats

1903: 3 million carats

Today: 8 to 10 million carats