Talking point: All that glitters

Everyone has their price. In my case, if you ever wanted to bribe me, a reasonably-sized diamond should do the trick (hint, hint). Ever since Marilyn Monroe, diamonds have been everyone’s best friend. Controversies over war funding, the Kimberley process, the blood-soaked histories of many stones – none of these have been able to dim the sparkle of the world’s hardest and most brilliant gem. Diamond mines are called ‘gentlemen’s mines’. Gold and coal might be mined in sweaty darkness and grime, but go down a diamond mine and you could be visiting a mall. The tunnels are wide and high and brightly lit, the air is cool and scented slightly with dust. You could wander around in high heels if you so wanted. But until recently the ordinary person was not allowed down a diamond mine. The workers several miles underground are getting on with the business of gem-extraction, and visitors are a time-consuming irritation. Until recently, that is. There are two diamond mines in South Africa that have become tourist attractions. The first is the Kimberley Big Hole, which is the best outing for anyone interested in the romance and rambunctiousness of diamonds. It is not a working mine, it is a mining museum. De Beers has put an enormous amount of money into reviving the museum which –let’s face it – was getting dusty and dishevelled. It is now a slick and satisfying attraction, beginning with an astonishingly good IMAX film about Kimberley’s history, an armoured underground cell stuffed with real diamonds, a honky-tonk recreation of New Rush, a tour of an early diamond tunnel complete with rockfall and explosion (always gets the kids excited, that one). No matter how many times I have visited the Open Mine Museum it is perennially on my must-do list. Perhaps it’s because I grew up in Kimberley and had a close association with diamonds – my father was an engineer with De Beers; our closest neighbour was an old-school diamond magnate who kept his diamond collection mouthwateringly wrapped up in rolls of black velvet; the neighbour on the other side was the famous Rudd House (now a museum), illicit diamond buyers were the cowboys and crooks of the industry; a cousin is a granddaughter of Sir Thomas Cullinan of THE Cullinan Diamond – this is why I am captivated by diamonds and their mines. And diamonds for me are always associated with Northern Cape thunderstorms and the smell of wet dust after rain; the multi-coloured gravel of Kimberley back yards; the aroma of the pepper trees along the roads; the heat of summer that knocks you off your feet; the taste of the sweetest watermelons in the country, summer sprinklers, rosy sunsets and freshly-mown lawns. Sigh. But I digress – we’re talking about diamond mines. The other mine worth visiting is the Premier Mine at Cullinan, north of Pretoria. This mine does not have the tumultuous history of the Kimberley diggings, but it offers something that Kimberley can’t: a trip underground down a working diamond mine. The Premier Mine has a machine-made Big Hole four times the size of the Kimberley hole, and visitors are always amazed by the sight of the vast steep-sided excavation. The Premier Mine has also delivered the largest diamonds ever found – as well as unique blue diamonds. The Star of South Africa, discovered in 1905, weighed more than half a kilogram and was cut into eleven gems. They were presented to the Queen of England (who should really give them back). The Great Star of South Africa was the largest polished diamond in the world until the Golden Jubilee diamond was found in 1985. A surface tour of the Premier Mine begins with a short DVD about diamonds, a look-out over the Big Hole, information about the diamond industry, a tour through a faux shaft, a visit to a diamond cutting works and shop. This tour takes about two hours. The underground tour takes about five hours, and requires you to be reasonably fit. Children are not allowed for safety reasons. The tour takes you nearly a kilometre underground – no claustrophobics