The Rockwell – a 287 ct diamond recovered from the middle Orange River by Rockwell Diamonds

On the 150th anniversary of the discovery of diamonds near Kimberley, an excursion from the alluvial deposits of Lichtenburg and Bloemhof to the Big Hole in Kimberley. The diamond trail begins on the Limpopo/Vaal River watershed west of Johannesburg where unique secondary diamond deposits have been preserved on the karstified terrain of the Transvaal Dolomites. These can be traced southwards to the Vaal River where diamond bearing palaeo-channels and terraces are still mined today. Mining of these diamonds, from unknown source(s), has been particularly intense around Windsorton, just north of Kimberley. Input of large quantities of diamonds derived from the local Cretaceous kimberlites are added to the Vaal River mix at Barkley West and these different diamond populations are taken further downstream to the confluence of the Vaal and Orange Rivers. Here these are joined by the Lesotho diamonds brought down by the Orange River. On the way to the West Coast some of these diamonds have been trapped in a series of river terraces that have been mined along the middle Orange River between Douglas and Prieska and have provided some of the largest and highest quality alluvial diamonds in recent times.

Five +100 ct diamonds recovered by Rockwell Diamonds along the Middle Orange River between August and November 2013

ITINERARY
Wednesday 24th August:
Johannesburg - Ventersdorp - Lichtenburg.
Distance 250 km
Overnight Lichtenburg
Thursday 25th August:
Lichtenburg - Schweizer Reineke - Windsorton.
Distance 350 km
Overnight Kimberley
Friday 26th August:
Kimberley - Dougla-Middle Orange River Deposits.
Distance 170 km
Overnight Douglas
Saturday 27th August:
Nooitgedacht pavements - Canteen Koppie - Barkley
West - Big Hole, Kimberley.
Distance 60 km
Overnight Kimberley
Sunday 28th August:
Kimberley - Cape Town

Field Trip Leader: Mike de Wit

• Dates: 24-27 August 2016
• Start – End: Johannesburg – Kimberley
• Number of participants: 20-25, including 1 guide/2 drivers 
• Transport: 2 x 14 seater buses