Premier Mine LTD
South Africa Premier Transvaal Diamond Mining Company Cullinan (Transvaal)
Premier Diamond Mine -(otherwise known as the the New Premier Diamond Mine to differentiate it from Wesselton Mine in Kimberly which was also known for a time as the Premier Diamond Mine).
This mining township lies 38 km north-east of Pretoria. It takes its name from Sir Thomas Cullinan and holds the honour of being the location where the world's largest known diamond was discovered in 1905.
One of the earliest reports of diamond discoveries in this area dates back to 1871 when a 4 1/4 carat stone was found on a farm near Pretoria. Further gems were also found on the banks of the Elands River and several other places in the locality.
The area occupied by Cullinan and the Premier Diamond Mine was originally part of the "The Cornelis Minnaar Farm", which was registered on 7th November 1859. Cornelis sold a portion of the farm to his brother Roelof Minnaar in 1861, who in turn sold the northern part of it to Willem Prinsloo for £570 on the 7th December 1896.
By 1898 Thomas Major Cullinan, an influential building contractor, was already prospecting for diamonds on the Prinsloo farm for which he tried to obtain an option on but failed. When Willem Prinloo died in 1898, shortly before the out break of the Anglo Boer War (1898-1902) Maria Prinsloo became the farm's new owner.
After the war the Maria's brothers returned to the farm. The family were in dire need of money and so when Thomas Cullinan re-opened negotiations with them to buy it they agreed to its outright sale for the sum £52,000.
The company which Cullinan founded to prospect on and mine the Prisloo's old farm was initially registered as the Premier Syndicate on 6th November 1902 and then re-registered on the 1st December 1902 as The Premier (Transvaal) Diamond Mining Company Ltd.
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Surface prospecting and the sinking of expository bore wholes started immediately and in early April 1903 William McHardy became the company's first general manager. The diamondiferous ground at Cullinan was found to comprise a huge volcanic chimney or pipe which outcropped on the surface over a pear shaped area covering at least 80 acres. The deposit had a limestone capping. Under this lay about thirty feet of "yellow ground" (oxidised kimberlite) which gradually merged into unaltered "blue ground" similar to the diamond pipes of Kimberly. The "blue ground" of the Premier Mine is much more friable than that of the Kimberley mines and does not need exposing to prolonged surface weathering prior to processing. Instead the diamond bearing rock was amenable to direct washing, thereby eliminating the expense and loss of time resulting from it requiring to be spreading on oxidation floors.
Production at the Premier Mine began on 24th April 1903. The diamond bearing earth was removed from the open pit by an endless rope haulage system and delivered to a steam driven processing plant (known as No.1 Gear) comprising of rotary pans. This washing plant was located on a small elevation at the edge of the open crater. Tailings slurry was discharged from the plant by gravity into an adjacent low lying area of land. The plant's concentrate went through a final stage of cleaning via a stage of manual picking and sorting by hand. By 1904 the mine already very prosperous and comprised three open-cut pits employing more than 2000 people.
These tokens are from 20/ ,10/ , 2/6 , 2/(with hole) , 1/ , 6d and 3d
On 2/ token, the legend is EMP.CO-OP.Ltd. Thus on the 3d E.C.S. would be for Emporium Co-operative Society .
The hole on the larger piece was made so as to (purposefully) change a 20/- to a 2/- (a 20 Shilling to a 2 Shilling).
HERN : 450u for 20/ or 2/ with Hole . HERN: 450x for the 3d Above pictures are for Set 4