User:Egoli/sandboxdebeers

History
The history of De Beers started with the discovery of a 21.25 carat rough diamond on the banks of the Orange River in 1866 but is was the subsequent discovery three years later of the 87.5 carat Star of South Africa that really stimulated interest from prospectors. Within two years the prospectors had fanned out and as well as the alluvial diggings, 'dry diggings' had been established on what turned out to be the weathered upper layers of four kimberlite pipes around what was to become Kimberley (the Bultfontein, De Beers, Dutoitspan and Kimberley mines) and the Koffiefontein and Jagersfontein mines in the old Orange Free State.

The pipes were initially split up into small claims on the basis of one-man-one-claim but this soon became unworkable because the claims were all being worked at different rates and mining became dangerous. The law was rescinded and Cecil Rhodes and his partner Charles Rudd began buying claims on the De Beers mine on a large scale which they eventually pooled to form the De Beers Mining Company in 1880.

They were not alone. Other partnerships were buying up claims, particularly the Barnato Brothers, Harry and Barney, who built up a large holding in the Kimberley Mine through what was eventually the Kimberley Central Diamond Mining Company. However, they were outflanked when Rhodes and Rudd bought adjacent claims and were forced to the negociating table. This resulted in the formation in 1888 of the De Beers Consolidated Mines. Eventually De Beers bought out all the remaining kimberley diamond claims, including the newly discovered Wesselton Mine and the two Orange Free State Mines.

See http://www.cullinanmeander.co.za/History/History.html for Premier mine history.

See http://www.mining-technology.com/projects/finsch/ for Finsch history