Diamonds Galore!

Michael Alexander · July 03, 2009, 06:10:04 AM

I was talking to two different sources this week, people in the know, and it appears that the mine has found "more" sources of diamonds and the life of the mine has now been moved to 2020.

that's a bit of good news in these dark days!

toonfandangl · July 03, 2009, 06:32:32 AM

Good news for the township lets hope they keep finding diamonds ................Frank

toonfandangl · July 03, 2009, 06:47:58 AM

Remember the time I was there, the consensus was that the diamonds would always be there.

Due to the volcanic action from the Drakensberg range they drain to the west down the Orange and Vaal river areas

Think its a case of how rare diamonds are......................Frank.

Michael Alexander · July 03, 2009, 08:57:00 AM

The other theory being, (Sammy Collins) was that the bulk of the diamonds did not come from up the river but from offshore underwater sources.... and are being constantly being washed against the coast... Sammy Collins even sent a survey team out to the Walvis ridge (Seamount) but all they found was Crayfish.....

I think he was onto something....

pam spackman · July 03, 2009, 10:16:15 AM

That's fantastic news Mike

toonfandangl · July 03, 2009, 03:00:43 PM

Sammy Collins was he a prospector for CDM or owned the Oranjemund cafe............Crayfish mouth watering

Michael Alexander · July 03, 2009, 03:13:24 PM

Nope, Sammy Collins was the Texan who came to lay the pipe for the Tank Farm... and saw the potential of Diamonds in the ocean.... he was the forerunner to Debeers Marine.... at the time DeBeers did not believe that there were viable resources of diamonds in the sea.....

If you want the book.... email me your po box..... the sammy collins story....

toonfandangl · July 04, 2009, 01:09:11 AM

I do remember the marine diamond corporation they had barges off the coast, but after a bad storm in the early 70s the barges were dumped on the beach.

After this happened the company went into receivership and wound up its operations

The camera club bought some of their 35mm movie gear and I think the rest was auctioned off.

Mike Voden (RIP) · July 04, 2009, 12:57:21 PM

Frank, do you remember the late Roy Fields? I'm sure he was involved with Sam Collins before he came to work in the power station as a diesel fitter

toonfandangl · July 07, 2009, 03:02:28 AM

Mike Jenny!! the name (Roy Fields) rings bells but not sure 40 years is a long time to recognise which bell it is.

Remember doing some repairs at the power station!! and a name that comes to mind is Peter Weiserman but think he was a Fitter.

Just thought of this (what does he look like).....................................OK OK daft bugger