Oranjemund, Namibia. It seems to be the largest diamond mine vehicle graveyard, and yet there are barely any pictures of it. Satellite photos of the area could let you guess how big it is. The mine owned by De Beers is reputed to have the largest private earthmoving fleet in the world.
From the texts I have found here and there, my understanding is that that people are not allowed to visit those the area for safety reasons, hence the lack of available photos.
This tank was last used in industry, not war; after World War II, the diamond miners of Oranjemund used surplus tanks to bulldoze sand.
Once a machine has been used for diamond harvesting in the De beers mine, it won't leave the mine anymore, even after it's Obsolete. Machines of any types have been piling up in the graveyard since the 1900's. The reason seems to be that people could find diamonds trapped in those old machines. I don't know why the company do not dismantle them in search of possible lost gems though...
A map of the graveyard, each point is supposedly a vehicle
And some more few miles north.
coordinates : 28°26'09.22"S 16°16'06.37"E
google map
pictures sources : 1 2
text source : 1 2
Artificial Owl recommends:
"The reason seems to be that people could find diamonds trapped in those old machines. I don't know why the company do not dismantle them in search of possible lost gems though..."
ReplyDeleteMy thought exactly. If they keep it for this reason, they must expect the value of any hidden gems to be higher than the value they would get from selling the machinery.
It was my understanding that the vehicles don't ever leave the area so that they are not used for smuggling diamonds out. In other words if the workers know that the jeep or tank will never go out again, what is the point in trying to find a hidden area in which they could smuggle some diamonds? It's far easier for guards to search a person than a whole vehicle.
ReplyDeleteThe last picture looks oddly like a person in profile
ReplyDeletewhy not scrap metal/used parts? come to buffalo ny ex steel plants/grain elevators 75 yrs of closing plants.
ReplyDeletea day will come when we run out of extractable metal and i hope we will turn to the piles and piles of scrap laying all around the world, rather then let nature claim all this metal as flakes of rust.
ReplyDeletethe reason that the vehicles are not dismantled looking for gems is that diamonds are really not THAT rare. the supply is very closely held and manipulated [in the main by debeers] in order to create a false market to demand ratio and keep the prices up at a ridiculous level.
ReplyDeleteneat photos though, and what a waste
I'm guessing that the reason they don't bother to check the old vehicles for stones is that since the staff know that no vehicles ever leave, they don't bother to stash stones on the vehicles.
ReplyDelete