Diamond

specimen number:
2262204

location:
Kimberley, Northern Cape, South Africa

description:
A set of loose sharp diamond crystals from this famous locality. The crystals average 0.3 cm in size. The size provided is the size of the box shown in the picture and video. The specimen comes with an antique data card as shown at the end of the video with an acquisition date of 1961.

The Kimberley mining district in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa is world-famous as the site of the first major diamond rush and the namesake for the rock kimberlite. Geologically, the deposits are hosted within vertical, carrot-shaped volcanic pipes that formed during the Cretaceous period when deep-seated explosive eruptions transported diamonds from the Earth's mantle to the surface through the ancient Kaapvaal Craton. These pipes consist of kimberlite, a dark, ultramafic igneous rock that contains a unique mineral assemblage including pyrope garnet, magnesium-rich ilmenite, and the primary economic target, diamond. Historically, the discovery of a large diamond on the Colesberg Kopje in 1871 ignited the New Rush, leading to the manual excavation of the massive Kimberley Mine, also known as the Big Hole, which became the largest hand-dug excavation in the world. Organized mining and quarrying operations were eventually consolidated by Cecil Rhodes under De Beers Consolidated Mines in 1888, with major underground and open-pit production continuing across multiple pipes like the Bultfontein, Wesselton, and Dutoitspan mines for over a century. While the iconic Big Hole ceased production in 1914, other underground operations in the Kimberley cluster remained active until 2005, and tailings reclamation projects continue to process diamondiferous material through 2026.

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