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Show DIAMONDS 10 SOON I A6VAICE III PRICE 1 " Increase of Ten Per Gent Will Be Made August 1 ' or 15. C. W. HENROTIN TELLS OF I 'SOUTH AFRICAN .MINES - H Some Features of the Imriierisc H Wealth of the Boer v- ' ' lH Country. Charles W. Ilenrotin. 'son-in-law of City Auditor Altf, has just returned. iH from South Africa, where he has spent the last five of six years acting as general manager of the Kimberley Dia-mond Dia-mond Mines company. Mr. JJeurotiu ll is now stopping in Salt Lake City for IH a short time prior to going east, where IH he will assume control of other niiniDg interests. Mr. Henrotin discussed tho jH diamond industry most entertainingly IH Wednesday afternoon, and told of tho importanco of the industry as it is re-lated re-lated to the industrial conditions oil South Africa, jH The size and importance of the indua' jH try can best bo appreciated when it i known that the company uses thousands " of cubic feet of lumber, paying for the same at the rate of $1 a cubic foot: uses coal to generate thousands ot horsepower, paying for the same at the rate of from $10 to $10 a ton; can. stand tho theft of half a million dol-lars' dol-lars' worth of its product annually; handles stores and supplies amounting to $10,000,000 annually, and can pay with nil theso factors to be considered. the immense sum of from $10,000,000 to $15,000,000 in dividends aunually. And in this industry alone, one-third of tho number of people living in Salt Lake ' City aro employed by a single mining IH company. Of these 30,000 to "40.000 pco- plo who are employed by the Kimberley j, Diamond Mining company, about eighty per cent are blacks, who live within , coin pan- buildings continuously for 1 jH periods varying from three months to . a year. Of the whites employed, not; IH one is taken on to do anything but: that required of skilled labor or to superintend the work of tho blacks. jH Tho working of a single mino requires ' IH a government and a system in itself- -ti JB -Kr-6beTt'e1,'''tt?1fec"t''tlirs 'go'vernment aii'd T system, rigid' laws arc passed. Tho vH great factor against which the diamond company must coutcud always is tho theft of diamonds from its workings. Around this condition Micro has been IH i built a most wonderful system: ono which is cried agnijist by church and JH missionary alike because they have jH failed to grasp its need, its significance IH aud its justice in dealing with possiblo IH diamond thieves. il Hundreds of Detectives. Hundreds of ' detectives are cm-ployed cm-ployed to watch every ono and i;H cvi'iything about the immense prop- '1 erly. The blacks sign up to work for stipulated periods with tho company tind live in company buildings or com- ' jH pounds during these periods, whon they arc paid off. Because of tho nature of tho black, this treatment is possible. IH Every American knows that such a method wouldn't last ten minutes. .in. H an American mining camp. Tho whites aro not searched nor thus restricted, .M but overy one is continually watched. ( The law makes it a crime to have tin- ' polished diamonds in the possession of tl any person. Missionaries have argued that the blacks aro punished, whipped and treated to something akin to slav-cry slav-cry in this system. But this couditiou '1 docs not exist, according to Mr. Hen- " rotin. for the families may como ami IH i;co the blacks; there is no punishment, and tlte blacks cau always send money iH to their families. ' Diamond mining as followed by tho '1 Kimberley compauy is as much a deep underground system as is found in. , America, with tho exception of th Michigan copper mines. The deepest i JH of the Kimberley mines is nqjy fully 3000 foct deep. Mining methods akin to those used by Iho Utah Copper com- IH pany in its cave-in system, or similar IH to the Michigan method, where the ma- -l toriul is chambered out and the over- jH burden is allowed to crush tho ore, is , The formation in which tho dianiouda occur is an immense pipe, about 2000 , foot in diameter. There are several of thoso pines found in tho diamond dis- j'l trict. Each ono is worked as a septi- ''iH rate mine. The Kimberley Diamond il Mining company has five distinct mines The diamond bearing material is ti serpentine, generally known as an altered igneous rock. Tho exact na-ture na-ture of the original igneous rock which. came up in the diamond pipes, and which has since been changed to the U -H serpentine rock, is not known. In the fi language of the diamond man this rock r jH assays sevonty-Hix karats to the 100 ) jH tons', or fifty-five karats lo tho 300 ' UH loads. 2500 Tons of Ore a Day. Tho largest of tho five mines ownod bv the compauy is located in an. jH immense pipe which extends about jH forty-throo acres. Its depth is r.n-known. r.n-known. Tho. walls of tho pipe aro marked quito distinctly. This great fH pipe was worked as an open cut to a IH depth of 1000 feet. Now a depth of ' nH 3000 foet has been attained, but tho tl work is now pursued along regular mm-ing mm-ing lines. A four compartment shaft, twentv-tkroc by six and one-half feot in tho'clear, has boon sunk far out from the caving sides of the pipe. Through this slmft 1,000,000 tons of rock wero hoisted last year. This amounts to tho jH handling of 2300 tons of ore in a day, ' .H a figure which equals, if it docs not V exceed, records mado elsewhere for a singly shaft. Tho skips w-hich hoist tho -H oro nro loaded from five-ton pockots, c a pocket holding a carload. To load tho ' ''H skit), hoist it about 2o0Q foot, , tip it, tl uud return it to position takes but. ' '-H forty-fivo to fifty seconds. "During fl parts of tho run, the skip moves at a I rato of eighty miles an hour. ; All tho, inaterinl mined is dropped lb a singlu haulugo level,. some falling as ''H f v '1 I far as 1 100 fecit beforo it is removed from the mine. Since tho shaft is some distance from t lie pipo from which tho material is secured, the question of huuhige becomes important. Tho hnul-ngejs hnul-ngejs as nearly mei'hanical as it is "possible, to secure. The cheapest method to haul between two fixed points lias been found to bo by a rojc drive, the ;.ir simply clutching an overhead moving mov-ing rope. To haul between .the shaft find several intermediate points, electric elec-tric locomotives aro used. Tho.s'o two methods have their advantages and each is used in its particular sphere because of theso advantages. Tho working levels of the mine, aro about forty fcot apart. Stiblcvels are placed at greater distances, whilo tho main haulage level is today at the bottom bot-tom of tho mine. Through tho immenso mine, there arc several great rock chutes through which tho mined material ma-terial is dropped to this lovol. In tho mine there is no waste, all the material which is takcu out boing the serpentine serpen-tine diamond-bearing rock. Expose Ore for Six Months. A little over one-half tho men cm-ployed cm-ployed by the company are employed in the mine. Tho other half aro employed em-ployed on the surface and in the shops of the company, dust as in other mining min-ing lines, there aro two distinct features, feat-ures, the mining and the milling. Tn many mining lines tho method is xo reduce the size of the individual pieces of ore by crushing to that state where concentration may bo effected. This method will not do. however, in this indiisf rj-, for tho diamond is .most brittle and would crush and splinter, thus destroying its vnlue and likewise It lie possibility oi recovering t.ue same "Rut; sorpentino crumbles readily, as compared with other rock, when exposed ex-posed to the atmospheric agencies. Jlcnce, the mntcrial from tho mine is dumped on large floors. These floors aro simplv large tracts of level land. Tho ore lays exposed thus for about six months; then the concentrating processes pro-cesses follow. Tho first concentration reduces tho bulk of tho material to ono-twentieth ono-twentieth its original size. From that state, the concentrated material passes to the ."jigs, which are much tho same as those used on lead and copper ores. Tho concentrates are then reduced in bulk to one-eighth of tho second bulk, or about one onc-lmndred-and-fiftieth of the original bulk. Tho material which has thus been saved out from the diamond rock or serpentine consists of the heavier minerals, such as garnets, gar-nets, olivines, and diamonds. Heavy material, such as nails and metal used In handling the rock, is also in the product pro-duct at this stage of the concentration. From the jias, tho concentrates puss over the grease tables. The grease table is a comparatively recent invention. inven-tion. Tt is controlled by the Kimberley company, and leased to other companies. com-panies. The man who invented this table received $500,000 for his patents. Annually, he now receives $5000 for his ingenuity as royalities on this patent. pat-ent. The diamonds aro found crystallized in octahedrons, little eight-sided figures that may bo formed by cutting off the corners of a cube. Because of their weight, their peculiar shape and their flat surfaces, the diamonds fall through iho mass of material which goes over the table. The grease catches and holds the diamonds. The tables are scraped regularly and new grease is applied. The .mixture of grease and diamonds is then treated in a retort and the grease is boiled off. Tho diamonds are then further classified bv hand. The diamond dia-mond crystal in its eight-sided form represents rep-resents the finished product of the mine. The diamonds are sold to an English syndicate at a stipulated rate, tho rate being changed about every venr or two. Another change, representing repre-senting an increase of abmtt 10 per cent, is scheduled to occur on August 1, or about August 15, of the present year. The polishing of the diamonds is itself it-self an art entirely distinct from the mining done in South Africn. The two methods used are known as the American Ameri-can and the foreign. The American method was not originated bv Americans, Ameri-cans, but it has this name. This method meth-od gives the diamonds a finer polish than does the foreign method. |
