Diamonds in the Rough: The ICU’s Activism on the Lichtenburg Diamond Diggings, 1927–1931

Figures & data

Figure 1. The alluvial diamond fields are divided into (1) the Mafikeng-Molopo or Northeastern field; (2) Lichtenburg-Bakerville or Northern field; (3) the Ventersdorp-Potchefstroom-Klerksdorp or Eastern field and (4) the Christiana–Schweizer-Reineke–Wolmaransstad–Bloemhof or Southern field (4). (Source: M. Wilson, G. Henry and T. Marshall, ‘A Review of the Alluvial Diamond Industry and the Gravels of the North West Province, South Africa’, South African Journal of Geology, 109, 3 [2006], p. 302.)

Figure 2. Thousands of motor cars at the proclamation of the Grasfontein diamond diggings, probably in 1925. (Source: J. Wood, ‘Motors at Proclamation of Grasfontein, Lichtenburg’, available at http://www.on-the-rand.co.uk/Diamond%20Grounds/Lichtenburg1.htm, retrieved 1 September 2020.)

Figure 3. Black workers using a sieve on the Lichtenburg diggings. (Source: T.P. Clynick ‘“Digging a Way into the Working Class”: Unemployment and Consciousness Amongst the Afrikaner Poor on the Lichtenburg Alluvial Diamond Diggings, 1926–1929’, in R. Morrell (ed.), White but Poor: Essays on the History of Poor Whites in Southern Africa 1880–1940 [Pretoria, University of South Africa, 1992].)

Figure 4. Deep diamond digging in Grasfontein, Lichtenburg. (Source: J. Wood, ‘Grasfontein Diamond Diggings, 1927’, available at http://www.on-the-rand.co.uk/Diamond%20Grounds/Lichtenburg13.htm, retrieved 12 September 2022.)

Figure 5. Mining gear at Welverdiend, Lichtenburg in 1926. (Source: J. Wood, ‘Deep Diggings, Grasfontein, Lichtenburg’, available at https://www.mindat.org/photo-862858.html, retrieved 12 September 2022.)

Table 1. Diamond production in alluvial diamond fields as opposed to kimberlite deposits, years 1925–1933

Year	Mines	Alluvial	Total
1925	2192.9	237.2	2430.1
1926	2409.7	808.3	3218.0
1927	2389.6	2318.4	4708.0
1928	2256.2	2114.7	4372.0
1929	2293.5	1367.7	3661.2
1930	2244.9	918.7	3163.6
1931	1472.1	647.1	2119.2
1932	310.3	488.1	798.4
1933	15.5	491.1	506.6

Source: T.P. Clynick, ‘Diamond Production of the Union (1000 carats)’ in ‘The Lichtenburg Alluvial Diamond Diggers 1926–1929’ (unpublished paper, University of the Witwatersrand, 21 May 1984), p. 13, available online at https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/39667453.pdf.

Figure 6. Map of farms in Lichtenburg where diamond digging was prevalent. Grasfontein is at the centre of the image. Elandsputte is not on this map, but sits just north-east of Grasfontein. (Source: M. Wilson, G. Henry and T. Marshall, ‘A Review of the Alluvial Diamond Industry and the Gravels of the North West Province, South Africa’, South African Journal of Geology, 109, 3 [2006], p. 308.)