[imagesource: Carte Blanche]

We all dream of striking it big and never working again.

At least I do, although I’m less into prospecting for diamonds and more into buying lottery tickets via my banking app.

Less effort, you see. The trade-off is that winning the lottery is (probably) less likely than hitting the motherlode along the West Coast.

South Africa’s ‘zama zama’ illegal miners operate in very dangerous conditions deep underground. It’s a different story for diamond hunters in the Namaqualand, and Carte Blanche was on the case recently:

Like the pioneer diggers on whose backs South Africa’s rich mining history was built, diamond miners in the Namaqualand West Coast stake their futures on The Big One.

Some work for bigger miners, some as privateers with their own concessions. But for of them it’s risky and backbreaking work diving the icy depths or scratching in the surf, eyes peeled, for the gem that will change their fortunes.

Carte Blanche gets an inside look at the lives of rugged men who share a passion for the shiny stones and a good story.

Diamonds might be hard to find but larger-than-life characters are not:

[source:carteblanche]