CULLINAN DIAMOND MINE

THE ORIGINAL HOLE DUG FOR EARLY DIAMOND MINING

One of our first excursions as a family was to the Cullinan Diamond Mine about an hour outside of Jo'burg. Of course, mining of gold and diamonds is the major reason for the settling of this area more than 100 years ago. In fact, the province in which we live, Gauteng (pronounced with an "H" sound), means Place of Gold in the Sotho language. The Cullinan Diamond Mine has the bragging rights to being the source of the Elizabeth Taylor-Richard Burton Diamond. The tour we took was very enlightening.  First, the ground which the diamonds are mined consists of kimberlite, a substance which has no use other than to be the potential source for diamonds. The mine digs 11,000 tons of kimberlite per day. Of that, only about a handful of diamonds will be discovered.  Of that amount, only 20% will be gem quality. The rest will be industrial diamonds for use as drill bits, among other things.  The mine is open 24/7, with 2 shifts being active digging and 1 shift being maintenance.



THIS REPRESENTS THE AMOUNT OF DIAMONDS FOUND IN 11,000 TONS OF KIMBERLITE

If you would like to read more about the Cullinan Diamond Mine, please click here.http://www.cullinandiamonds.co.za/heritage.html