THE DIAMOND OFFICE
From the pulsator the diamonds are sent to the general office
in Kimberley to be cleansed in a boiling mixture of nitric and
sulphuric acids. A parcel of diamonds loses about half a part per
1000 by this treatment. On one of my visits to the diamond office
the door opened and in walked two young men, each carrying a large
enamelled saucepan containing something steaming hot. They went to
one of the zinc-covered tables and turned out from the saucepans a
lustrous heap of 25,000 carats of diamonds (Fig. 10). They had just
been boiled in acid and washed.
After purification the diamonds are handed to the valuators (Fig.
11), who sort them into classes, according to size, colour, and
purity. In the diamond office they are sorted into ten classes. In
the year 1895, in 1141·8 carats of stones, the proportions of the
different classes were as follows:
Close goods (best stones) 53·8
Spotted stones 75·8
Fine cleavage 79·1
Flats 39·5
Macles 36·5
Ordinary and rejection cleavage 243·4
Rejection stones 43·2
Light and brown cleavage 56·9
Rubbish 371·8
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1000·0
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Fine sand 141·8
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1141·8
It is a sight for Aladdin to see the valuators at work in the
strong-room of the De Beers Company at Kimberley. The tables are
literally heaped with stones won from the rough blue ground--stones
of all sizes, purified, flashing, and of inestimable price; stones
that will be coveted by men and women all the world over; and
last, but not least, stones that are probably destined to largely
influence the development and history of a whole huge continent.