Jagersfontein is a small town in the Free State province of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

Origin

The original farm on which the town stands was once the property of a Griqua Jacobus Jagers, hence the name Jagersfontein. He sold the farm to C.F. Visser in 1854.

Mining

Diamond rush

diamond rush A diamond rush is a period of feverish migration of workers to an area where diamonds were newly discovered. Major diamond rushes took place in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in South Africa and South-West Africa. Diamond rushes by chrono ...

started in 1870 after farmer J.J. de Klerk found a 50 carat (10 g) diamond. This was about three years before diamonds were discovered 130 km away at

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia Queensland * Kimberley, Queensland, a coastal locality in the Shire of Douglas South Australia * County of Kimberley, a cadastral unit in South Australia Ta ...

. Jagersfontein is known for many great finds, such as: *the 972 carat (194.4 g) Excelsior Diamond of 1893 and *the 637 carat (127.4 g) Reitz Diamond of 1895.

Jagersfontein Mine

Jagersfontein Mine together with the

Koffiefontein mine Reikaeletse Mine is a diamond mine situated in the Free State (South African province), Free State province, about 80 km from Kimberley, Northern Cape, Kimberley, South Africa. It is one of the many Kimberley mines of which Big Hole, Kimber ...

produced some of the clearest diamonds of all mines in the early 1900s, despite being overshadowed by the mines at Kimberley. Streeter called Jagersfontein's diamonds of the " first water". The Reitz diamond was first named after

Francis William Reitz Francis William Reitz Jr. (5 October 1844 – 27 March 1934) was a South African lawyer, politician, statesman, publicist, and poet who was a member of parliament of the Cape Colony, Chief Justice and fifth State President of the Orange Free ...

, then state president of the

Orange Free State The Orange Free State ( ; ) was an independent Boer-ruled sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeated and surrendered to the British Em ...

in which Jagersfontein is located. The following year marked the Diamond Jubilee of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

(the 60th anniversary of her coronation) so the gem was renamed the Jubilee Diamond to commemorate the occasion.

Main Pit Operations

The Jagersfontein Mine is currently the deepest hand-excavated hole in the world. For the duration of the mine's operational history, it was run by De Beers up to 1972, when it was deproclaimed. De Beers did however retain prospecting rights on the property until 2002.

Stockpile Dumps Reprocessing

A court case, De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd v Ataqua Mining (Pty) Ltd, in December 2007,related to historic stockpile dumps were found not subject to the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act. All standard National Environmental Management Act processes however still applied. Limited Reprocessing operations at the mine was eventually started in September 2010 by a company named Son Op before it changed its name to Jagersfontein Development. Reinet Investments of Luxembourg became involved around 2011, but eventually sold out to Stargems Group around early 2022.

Tailings dam collapse

At around 6am on Sunday 11 September 2022, parts of a tailings dam collapsed on the outskirts of Jagersfontein.

Urban electrification

Jagersfontein was the second town in South Africa and the first town in the

to have electricity and piped water. In the early years, water used to be supplied with a unique system of coin-operated water pumps, using so-called Water Pennies,Some rare South African tokens from the Nomansland region
/ref> situated on street corners.

References

{{Authority control Populated places in the Kopanong Local Municipality Karoo Populated places established in 1852 1852 establishments in Africa