- Being a mining history/trivia buff is part of the job requirement
here at E&MJ. It’s one of those addictions that teaches
humility, where the more one learns, the more they realize
how little they know. So, when the invite to see the Finsch
mine arrived at my desk, arrangements were made immediately
to visit South Africa again. Who could resist a chance
to visit Kimberley? The diamond mining business can trace
its roots to Kimberley and the rush of the 1870s. It’s where
Cecil Rhodes made his fortune, the home of De Beers, and, of course, the Big Hole.
The Finsch mine visit was a three day journey. The group arrived at the Finsch
guest
house in the afternoon and luggage arrived sometime during the night. After a
short
safari at the Bonza game farm, mine managers from Finsch welcomed the group with
a sumptuous outdoor barbecue—a perfect mid-October evening in the bush.
Before heading underground, executives from De Beers and
Sandvik debriefed us on what we were about to
see. Anybody with an appreciation for mining
technology would enjoy seeing a 50-ton dump
truck roll into a tipping point, load, roll out, and
travel 35 km/h without a driver (See Block
Caving, p. 36). Climbing the ramp from the 63
Level to the 61 Level, however, made me realize
that desk jobs make a person soft.
After a hearty Northern Cape lunch, the
entourage departed for Kimberley. We would spend
the night at the famed Kimberley Club, a provincial
old money club with a great history. It’s said that in 1884, the Kimberley
Club hosted
more millionaires per square foot than any other part of the world. Rhodes, then
in his
early 30s, was plotting the colonization of what would become Zambezi and Rhodesia
on the veranda. The group assembled in the lounge before an evening tour of the
town.
The first stop on the tour was the Honoured Dead Memorial, dedicated to those
that perished in the 124-day siege of Kimberley during the Anglo-Boer war in 1899.
A canon, “Long Cecil,” sits outside the memorial. It was built by
George
Labram, who was also chief engineer for De Beers
Consolidation Mines (DBCM) at the time. Labram is
credited with many inventions, most notably the
grease tables used to remove diamonds from kimberlite
ore. The next stop was the original boardroom where
Rhodes bought out Barney Barnato, CEO, Kimberley
Central Mining, for £5.3 million to form DBCM. The
group visited the Kimberley Africana Library—a vast
historical resource on the region. At the end of the
evening, our hosts treated us to dinner and fine South
African wine at The Estate. The home that Sir Earnest
Oppenheimer built for his wife Mary, has been converted into a posh private hotel.
The next morning the group barely had time to squeeze in the Big Hole. When diamonds
were discovered in Kimberley in 1871, 30,000 diggers arrived and they dug
one of the biggest holes. The Star of Africa, an 83.5-carat diamond was found
here
along with other giant sparklers. Eventually they hit water.
Learning more about the history and experiencing the hospitality of the region
was
culturally rewarding. I would like to express my gratitude to all of the people
that made the trip an adventure. Thank you.
Steve Fiscor, Editor-in-Chief,
E&MJ
As featured in Womp 08 Vol 1 - www.womp-int.com
