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Kimberly Diamond Mine travel wonder in South Africa |
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Why the The Kimberly Diamond Mine is the world's most legendary mining endeavor. Its Big Hole captures the imagination of visitors.
Tips & insights
on the Kimberly
This famous hole-in-the-ground was a hill when the mining began in the early 1870s. Over time, the workers dug deeper and deeper into the ground for diamonds until the opening became too deep to be mined effectively. The Big Hole was abandoned and rain water partially filled it.
The Kimberly Diamond Mine property has other gigantic excavated pits, which were also abandoned in due course.
Today the shaft rather than the pit method is used. Miners work far below the ground using modern equipment and tools.
When diamonds were discovered at the site in the early 1870s, floods of fortune seekers arrived. Most failed. A few became rich. The mining operation gained notoriety in the past for its treatment of its black workers.
One of the successful entrepreneurial miners was Cecil Rhodes. He went on to found Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and the globally dominant De Beers diamond company. He also endowed the Rhodes Scholarships.
The Kimberly Diamond Mine is the core of an ancient volcano. The extreme heat and pressure of volcanism produced the diamonds out of carbon-rich rocks.
The site has an onsite museum giving visitors an educational backgrounder.
View my other silver and
in South Africa Each Hillman Wonder has its own web page, with candid tips and insights:
View my South Africa
cuisine guide
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I hope your South Africa travel
dreams come true - and that my Kimberly
Web page ©2008 HQP / Hillman Quality Publications
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Big
Hole (see photo)
