history

• UNIT3: DIAMOND MINING IN KIMBERLEY 1867
• • The first diamond in South Africa was discovered in Hopetown in 1867.
• • Australia, America and Britain joined in the diamond rush to South Africa.
• • By 1870, there were 10 000 diggers on the land between the Vaal, Harts and Orange Rivers.
• • In 1871, there were rich finds on a farm owned by Diederik de Beer.
• • The diggers began to dig, resulting in the second largest man-made hole in the world called Kimberley Big Hole.
• • It was named after the British colonial Secretary.
• Diamonds are valuable because:
• • They are difficult to mine
• • Difficult and expensive to cut properly
• • A status to show off wealth
• • Used as an investment
• • Have industrial uses, for example, lasers and drills.
• DISCOVERY AND MINING OF GOLD
• • Gold was first discovered in South Africa in Eastern Transvaal in the area of the Blyde River.
• • A town of diggers developed
• • It was called Pilgrim’s Rest
• • In 1896 George Harrison discovered gold in some rocks on a farm called Langlaagte.
• • Cecil John Rhodes, Barney Barnato, Alfred Beit and J.B Robinson became the mining magnates or randlords.
• • President Paul Kruger of the South African Republic [SAR], was delighted to have gold discovered in his country.
• REASONS WHY GOLD IS VAULABLE:
• • Can conduct heat and does not rust
• • Used as a vaccine
• • To protect astronauts helmet from the glare of the sun.
• • Used to make surgical instruments