Big Hole

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The Big Hole

A sign next to the hole, reading "If all the diamonds recovered from the Kimberley Mine could be gathered together they would fill three cocopans such as these"

This article is about a mine. For other uses, see Big Hole River.

The Big Hole is a huge open-pit mine in Kimberley, South Africa and claimed to be the largest hole excavated by hand.

1 History
2 Not the biggest?
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit] History

From 1866 to 1914 50,000 miners dug the hole with picks and shovels, yielding 2,722 kg of diamonds. The Big Hole has a surface of 17 hectares (42 acres) and is 463 metres wide. It was excavated to a depth of 240 m but then partially infilled with debris reducing its depth to about 215 m; since then it has accumulated water to a depth of 40 m leaving 175 m visible. The underground Kimberly Mine was mined to a depth of 1097 metres.

There is currently an effort in progress to register the Big Hole as a World Heritage Site.^[1]

[edit] Not the biggest?

In 2005, Steve Lunderstedt, reported after doing intensive research he discovered that it was actually not the biggest hand-made excavation. By studying historical records of several man-made mines, he discovered that the title belongs to the Jagersfontein Mine. He claims a comparison between the Big Hole and other mines were never made and it was just assumed to be the biggest and used as selling point for tourist attraction.^[2]