About 9.6 million
carats (1,900 kg) of
jewel-quality diamonds were extracted during the mine's century of operation, interrupted only by the two
World Wars and the
Great Depression. Currently, the mine area is closed to the public.
Jagersfontein riots Several miners strikes or ‘riots’ occurred between 1913 and 1914 in mines Koffiefontein, Klipdam, Randfontein, Kimberley, Premier mines and Jagersfontein mines. Deaths due to shootings in Premier mines and well as Jagersfontein mines led to higher publicity than other miners strikes which occurred during that time. The majority of the miners who worked at these mines were
Basotho people who lived in then Basotholand. During their time working in the mines, they lived in hostels which had strict rules for black people which included the necessity for the possession of a pass book. Issues that affected Sotho people and precipitated riots included: The Great Depression, a drought over South Africa which was particularly severe over Basotholand as well as the first request that the British territories be handed over to the South African Union. The most distressing of these issues was the drought as it, compounded with the economic depression, put much pressure on migrant workers to return money back home to Basotholand. The ratio of women to men in Jagersfontein was 16:1 which was abnormal for a Free State town and as such a larger proportion of women participated in protests in Jagersfontein compared to others of its time. Nonetheless, authorities in Jagersfontein took drastic action on the women involved in the strikes including an event in March 1913 where police officials sealed off the bantu location, searched each house and demanded pass books at gun-point. Approximately 61 women were arrested, of which almost 50% were
coloured. Many Basotho people fled back to Basotholand for refuge after the shootings and brutality during the riots. In 1914, the mining riots resulted in the deaths of 11 Basotho people. Jagersfontein Mine together with the
Koffiefontein mine produced some of the clearest diamonds of all mines in the early 1900s, despite being overshadowed by the mines at Kimberley. Streeter called Jagersfontein's diamonds of the "
first water". The
Reitz diamond was first named after
Francis William Reitz, then state president of the
Orange Free State in which Jagersfontein is located. The following year marked the Diamond Jubilee of
Queen Victoria (the 60th anniversary of her coronation) so the gem was renamed the
Jubilee Diamond to commemorate the occasion.
Stockpile dumps reprocessing A court case in December 2007,
De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd v Ataqua Mining (Pty) Ltd, related to historic stockpile dumps were found not subject to the
Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act. All standard
National Environmental Management Act processes however still applied. Limited reprocessing operations at the mine were eventually started in September 2010 by a company named Son Op before it changed its name to Jagersfontein Development. Reinet Investments of Luxembourg became involved around 2011, but eventually sold out to Stargems Group around early 2022. ==Jagersfontein tailings dam disaster==