Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. Department of Mineral and Energy Affairs, 52 pp The results are expected to be released in due time. The DME has dispatched a team of geological and mining experts to the area and hope to collect some samples. This leaves the more resistant quartz crystals to be recovered freely from the soil horizon. The dolerite is more susceptible to weathering, resulting in the clay soils that characterise the area. These quartz pockets range in appearance from veins of various thickness, massive, to geodes of quartz crystals with crystal faces. These dolerite intrusions do contain pockets of secondary quartz mineralisation. In the KwaHlathi area, there are a significant number of dolerite intrusions. The soils are commonly clay-rich, structured profiles and the underlying Masotcheni Formation colluvium is highly erodible, forming deep dendritic gullies (Lindström, 1987).Īt first glance, based on the photos that have been circulating on the internet, the crystals in question appear to be quartz. These rocks are highly intruded by dolerite sills and colluvial hillslope sediments mantle the slopes. The greater Ladysmith area is underlain by the Volksrust Formation comprising blue-grey or black siltstone and shale. However, with the proximity to Lesotho, the potential of as yet undiscovered diamonds cannot be completely excluded. It was however reported by uncollaborated sources that a single alluvial diamond had been discovered in Natal in the early 1900s. KwaZulu-Natal as a province also has no known economical diamond occurrences. There are no known diamond occurrences, either primary kimberlite or secondary alluvial in the greater vicinity of where the discovery was made. The local government has ordered people to leave the site to make way for the investigation as fears have grown that the hundreds of mostly maskless diggers could spread the coronavirus amid a third wave of the pandemic hitting the country.īy late Tuesday, however, their requests had gone unheeded, and police cars were monitoring the area to keep the crowds in check.Quartz crystal could be mistaken for diamonds. "These are not diamonds, people here are just wasting their time," said 18-year-old Bhekumuzi Luvuno, skeptically inspecting one of the stones he unearthed overnight. ![]() We have very ancient geology sticking out of the ground there as well so it is not impossible.” ![]() “But, I don't want to rule out that these might be diamonds because where the Tugela River is following a major fault zone. ![]() “You can get beautiful extensive deposits of quartz crystals - so there is a possibility that these might be quartz crystals,” geologist Dr Gideon Groenewald told CapeTalk radio. Videos circulating online showed dozens of people shouting in celebration after the first find.īut experts say the stones are unlikely to be valuable. The news quickly spread on social media, causing the crowds to grow despite a lack of analysis on the transparent stones. The hunt began after word spread on social media that a herder had found a stone that looked like a diamond. But this could change everything," said Precious, 38, who had spent the night digging with her teenage son and baby daughter. South Africa's unemployment rate rose to 32.5 per cent last year, a new record as the country's economy was battered by a fast-spreading variant of the coronavirus. The rush comes amid a sharp rise in unemployment in KwaZulu-Natal, one of the poorest regions of South Africa, where already bleak economic prospects have been worsened by the coronavirus pandemic. Watch: 'Diamond rush' grips South African village after discovery of 'life-changing' stonesĪuthorities are now trying to clear the site of over 1,000 people with picks and shovels so that they can survey the new siteĭespite a lack of scientific analysis of the crystal-like rocks, first discovered over the weekend, over 1,000 people wearing bucket hats and boots have been searching the area nearly 200 miles southeast of Johannesburg in the hope of striking gold.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |