Well, one gets Americana and one gets Africana, so how about some oranjemundiana?
1. Here is an article on beach mining from (I think) 1986:
https://journals.tdl.org/icce/article/viewFile/4104/3786 (https://journals.tdl.org/icce/article/viewFile/4104/3786)
Coastal engineering studies for inshore mining of diamonds at Oranjemund
One of the authors is ex-AGM K C Owen**
"ABSTRACT
This paper describes a diamond mining operation on the west coast of Africa in Namibia (South West Africa, see Figures 1a and 1b), where a sea-wall of normal beach sand has been built out to a distance of more than 300 m seawards of the original coastline."
2. Diamond Board wants 24-hour access to Oranjemund
March 3rd, 2015 | by New Era Staff Reporter
https://www.newera.com.na/2015/.../diamond-board-24-hour-access-ora (https://www.newera.com.na/2015/.../diamond-board-24-hour-access-ora)
"WINDHOEK – After a recent Diamond Board of Namibia meeting in Oranjemund to pave the way for 24-hour access to the mining town, Namibia's diamond commissioner, Kennedy Hamutenya, yesterday said the board would like to see the town being accessible "as soon as possible".
"We (the board) put together a committee to oversee this matter and meet the needs of all stakeholders. The committee will have to ensure that ample security measures are in place for residents of both the mine and the town," said Hamutenya.
Oranjemund is currently only accessible from 6am to 10pm."
And ...
"The mayor explained that the town council is also working on the establishment of a long-distance taxi rank and is in discussions with the Namibia Ports Authority for the construction of a port, which Coetzee said will be good for employment creation."
Toilet-Reading
Here is a follow-up to my 1965 oranjemundiana:
I have emailed Ben to ask him to write a note about his 1965 trip to CDM and the old but interesting photos at his website:
http://www.boostdam.net/1965SOUTHWESTAFRICA-CDM/196504swajourney.html (http://www.boostdam.net/1965SOUTHWESTAFRICA-CDM/196504swajourney.html)
After emailing him I came across:
http://boostdam.tripod.com/OSESA.html (http://boostdam.tripod.com/OSESA.html)
There are some fascinating photos regarding marine diamond mining, including "ROCKEATER", the World's first dedicated marine mineral sampling vessel, The R.V. "Xhosa Coast" converted from a coaster in Capetown in late 1963, deployment of the suction pipe carriage at Oranjemund, Namibia
Willard Bascom, President of Ocean Science and Engineering, Inc. helping SCUBA diver/marine geologist Ben Oostdam.
These little vignettes from the web page may be of interest. There are accompanying photos that provide as rich insight into the past. [Mike, perhaps you may be interested in contacting Ben for permission to reproduce his text and photos, or Jasper House may be intserested]. The site provides numerous links re marine diamond mining.
"BACKGROUND
In early 1963,
Ocean Science and Engineering
of Washington, D.C. contracted with the
De Beers Diamond Corporation
to evaluate the diamond potential of two areas :
(1) the present-day beaches along the Namib coast in the concession area of the Consolidated Diamond Mines
a n d
(2) the offshore concession area mined by the Marine Diamond Corporation.
Francois Lampietti and I flew in from Capetown in October 1963 - I remember we heard about President Kennedy's shooting while watching "The Manchurian Candidate" in the Oranjemund theater. It was our task to arrange for the sampling of the present-day beaches between Oranjemund and Luderitz to assess their diamond potential.
We were given the full cooperation of CDM's magnificent workshop and the consultant services of Dr. Charles Stocken, the resident geologist. We first modified a frontend-loader so it could insert a 36 inch caisson into the beach. The caisson had teeth at the bottom and a ringpipe which jetted high pressure water downward, plus a suction pipe to evacuate the sand for processing."
"Once the sand overburden is removed, the 'basement' consists of deep gullies (left) carved by the surf at the time these now raised beaches were in the surfzone. These gullies are generally perpendicular to the coast and often have deep potholes in them. Gravels at the bottom of the gullies and in the potholes are the favorite sites for diamonds, which are found by the Ovambo mining crew using toothbrushes to do the final cleanup.
Below, from left to right: close-up of bedrock (glasses for scale)
bedrock and gullies, and a sampling trench (manmade)"
"When sealevel remained stable for an extended period, it would cut seacliffs (left) along the shore. Now, these cliffs terminate the raised terraces and are characterized by smooth concave undercuts. In our offshore geophysical surveys, we also found buried seacliffs, indicating a complex sequence of fluctuating sealevels and/or regional uplift.
The coast is very rugged, with rocky coves and pocket beaches midway between Oranjemund and Luderitz, and high dunes further north. Because this is 'Sperrgebiet' (off-limits), we caught hundreds of lobsters reaching directly from the longshore rockledges into the cold waters of the Benguela Current"