Was the Beach ever mined?

[Michael Alexander]

Whenever I head on down to the beach to take the dog for a walk, I always keep my eyes to the ground. Last week it paid off. I found myself an awesome quality Tiger Eye... one of the best I've seen in awhile.... anyhow, it got me to thinking...

There are diamonds all along this coast.... south of the Orange and North of the Orange.... now our mine only starts 3 or 4km North of the Orange river mouth, at the South sea fence....... I was wondering, from any of you that were here in the 50's and 60's...... was the beach area ever mined for diamonds?

[toonfandangl]

Not in the years I was there 68 to 71 but I remember the diamond cages would come in for repair
and they always (this is your referring to the Tigers Eye)  had chunks of Garnet wedged in the mesh.

There was an Ovambo administrator Steve Ettwine had a few sheds back of his house they were
stacked with Agates, Tiger Eye, etc he got his goldsmith licence while we were there, and also worked with silver.

Any one remember him STEVE  ETTWINE................................

[Andrew Darné]

From a more recent perspective, the area near the mouth and stretching north to the fence hasn't been mined. Not to say there isn't any reserve there, just the mining methods to get to those depths are still on somebody's drawing board. I stand to be corrected that the bedrock in that area lies in excess of 75m under the surface. If that's true, then we need some SERIOUS plan to get there because that's DEEP for our current methods!!!

[John Creedy]

Wasn't mined in the 50's 60's 70's.  Start digging guys.

[Michael Alexander]

mmmh! Guess, I shall be taking my spade with me when I take the dog for his walk on the beach...... Andy, can't you okies organise me a Bucketwheel for the weekend?

[Andrew Darné]

Mike, you wold need the dredge or even better, get a couple of Somali boytjies to hijack the Vasco DaGama (used on the MDP), it has a reach of 100 and something meters below water level, can carry a couple thousand tons of ore in its belly and then pump it into your beach house's back yard for you to sort in your own time.

Now that would be a bonus.

[Michael Alexander]

  Not a bad idea, but I have misplaced my lifejacket !

[Michael Alexander]

Had the pleasure of talking to an old timer today, one Doc Smit.... who arrived at Oranjemund back in the early 60's..... We got to talking about geology, Affenrucken, diamonds and all those misty tales from a bygone era..... He reckons, no the beach has not actually been mined, but back in the German mining days, diamonds were removed from the surface  of the beach, but no stripping, On asking why that section of the coast had not been mined , he knew that the area was too wet,  but that it should be one of the richest areas.... he recalled that in the south area of the mine, where the old german powerstation was, they opened a pit for sampling back in his days, to discover a very rich load of diamonds..... the GM of the day, Mr Richards was called to the site, whereby the pit was ordered to be covered up again....

Anyhow, Mr Smit is  in town for 2 months..... I look forward to chatting again, he has quite a bit of images for the site..... and this in turn has made my day......

Oh! And Malcolm, he knows you from Affies days.... something about stolen biltong in a boiler room being replaced with seaweed.....

[Uwe Leube]

I remember doing a project for the geology dept where it showed the old Orange River running to the north of town. The ridge to the north was the old northern bank with up to, if I remember correctly, 120+m of sand over the old riverbed.

[Lance Olivier]

Seem to recall that the river mouth, a large section of the river from the mouth up to the golf club and the area directly behind the yacht club, between the pan and the sea, was fenced off for quite a long time. Nobody allowed into said area. Don't know what was going on. This happened in the 60's or 70's. Maybe somebody can remember this event.