Kimberly Diamond Mines

Why the Kimberly Diamond Mine is special
The Kimberly Diamond Mine is the world's most legendary mining endeavor. Its Big Hole captures the imagination of visitor

Kimberly Diamond Mine tips and insights
Big Hole (see photo)
This famous hole-in-the-ground was a hill when the mining began in the early 1870s. Over time, the workers dug deeper and deeper into the ground for diamonds until the opening became too deep to be mined effectively. The Big Hole was abandoned and rain water partially filled it.

Lesser hotels
The Kimberly Diamond Mine property has other gigantic excavated pits, which were also abandoned in due cours

New mining method
Today the shaft rather than the pit method is used. Miners work far below the ground using modern equipment and tools.

History in brief
When diamonds were discovered at the site in the early 1870s, floods of fortune seekers arrived. Most failed. A few became rich. The mining operation gained notoriety in the past for its treatment of its black workers.

Cecil Rhodes
One of the successful entrepreneurial miners was Cecil Rhodes. He went on to found Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and the globally dominant De Beers diamond company. He also endowed the Rhodes Scholarship

How the diamonds came to be
The Kimberly Diamond Mine is the core of an ancient volcano. The extreme heat and pressure of volcanism produced the diamonds out of carbon-rich rocks.

Museum
The site has an onsite museum giving visitors an educational backgrounder.

Location in South Africa