The provincial government has since requested all those involved to leave the site to allow authorities to conduct a proper inspection, amid fears the people digging at the site could potentially be spreading the coronavirus. Some people have started selling the stones, with the starting price ranging from 100 rand ($7.29) to 300 rand. A boy holds what he believes to be a diamond at KwaHlathi village near Ladysmith, South Africa, on June 15, 2021. The coronavirus pandemic has made it worse. The story of diamonds in South Africa begins between December 1866 and February 1867 when 15-year-old Erasmus Jacobs found a transparent rock on his fathers. Mystery stones spark diamond rush in poor South African region. South Africa's economy has long suffered from extremely high levels of unemployment, trapping millions in poverty and contributing to stark inequalities that persist nearly three decades after the end of apartheid in 1994. The lack of an analysis of the stones has not deterred the fortune seekers as long lines of parked cars on both sides of the gravel road could be seen just a few metres from the open field, where the young, old, female and male dug through the soil with picks, shovels and forks to find riches. The mines department said on Monday it was sending a team comprising of geological and mining experts to the site to collect samples and conduct an analysis.Ī formal technical report will be issued in due course, the department said.

Diamond rush in south africa