Field Trip 5 Rivers that Sparkle – The Alluvial Deposits of

Central South Africa Pre-Conference Only

Leader: Mike de Wit, Tsodilo Resources

FIELD TRIP 5 - PRE-CONFERENCE ITINERARY

Dates: Sunday 10th September to Saturday 16th September 2017

Sunday 10th September 2017 • am Meet at OR Tambo airport, Johannesburg • Johannesburg – Ventersdorp (Primary Gravels). Distance ~250km • Accommodation with dinner at Scott’s Manor, Lichtenburg

Monday 11th September 2017 • Lichtenburg (Primary Gravels in Karst Topography) • Accommodation with dinner at Scott’s Manor, Lichtenburg

Tuesday 12th September 2017 • Lichtenburg – Schweizer Reineke (Reworked Gravels). Distance 200

km • Accommodation with dinner at Borobalo Lodge, Wolmaranstad

Wednesday 13th September 2017

• Christiana – Windsorton (Holpan, Klipdam) – Barkly West (Canteen Koppie, Nooitgedacht Pavements/diggings). Distance 170 km

• Accommodation with dinner at Protea Lodge, Big Hole, Kimberley

Thursday 14th September 2017 • Big Hole, Kimberley – Rooipoort (Vaal River Terraces). Distance 220 km • Accommodation with dinner at Villieria Guest House and Broadwater

River Ranch, Douglas

Friday 15th September 2017 • Middle Orange River between Douglas and Prieska (Orange River

Gravels including Rockwell Diamonds operations). Distance 150 km • Accommodation with dinner at Villieria Guest House and Broadwater

River Ranch, Douglas

Saturday 16th September 2017 • Douglas – Kimberley. Distance 100 km • Depart Kimberley to Gaborone, Botswana under own arrangements.

Secondary Diamond Deposits

Along the Vaal/Orange Rivers in South Africa

This trip takes in the secondary diamond deposits from the Lichtenburg/Ventersdorp area on the Vaal/Limpopo watershed, the rich alluvial deposits in the Schweizer Reneke/Wolmaranstad/Christiana districts in the middle Vaal River drainage basin, the lower Vaal River terraces at Windsorton/Barkly West/Smithsdrift and the middle Orange River deposits known for its large diamonds between Douglas, Hopetown and Prieska with a taste of kimberlite at 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 Barkly 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 best quality alluvial diamonds in recent times.

Diamond rush for claims on Grasfontein in 1927

Main Grasfontein run on Uitgevonden

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

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