Rich Man, Poor Man, a Tigers Eye Story!

Back in 1970’s we were mining Tiger’s Eye on one of my farms in the Niekerkshoop District, the Karoo Desert in the Cape Province of South Africa.

My Tiger’s Eye mining rights covered the whole extend of that farm, some 2,000 hectares (5,000 acres).

A mining team was working a Tiger’s Eye vein on top of a steep elevation, on a mountain marking the Western border of the property. Very difficult to access.

The other side of that mountain belonged to a farm owned by “Old Man Pretorius”.

He lived by himself on an old but comfortable house and his farm covered nearly 6,000 hectares (15,000 acres). His nearest neighbor was some 10 miles away.

My people informed me that there were rich deposits of high quality Tiger’s Eye on Pretorius’ farm and coming from his side of the mountain it was an easy access.

I went to visit him. We talked about weather (it rains a little every 2-3 years), we had some coffee and then I sprang the offer:

I will mine Tiger’s eye on his side of the mountain and every Friday, a truck will go there to collect the bags. It will stop in front of his house, it will weigh the Tiger’s Eye and I will pay him a royalty which, in my estimates could reach 1,000 Rand per month or more.

A luxury home in Johannesburg could be bought at the time for Rand 20,000 and an air ticket from Johannesburg to New York was 250 Rand.

Old Man Pretorius thought and thought. Then we had some more coffee and he thought some more.

And then he came with the verdict: He was not interested.

That truck with Tiger’s Eye coming and going every Friday would create a lot of noise and dust. Weighing the Tiger’s Eye stones would require his attention for at least one hour every Friday..                                                                                                                                                     

And then, he dropped the bomb: What will I do with the 1,000 Rand?

I was stunned but I realized his situation. The man did not listen to the radio because the station was in Kimberley or, even worth, in Johannesburg. And people in those cities did not go to his church.

Old Man Pretorius did not read any newspapers, because the only thing a man must read is his bible.

He had an old 1947 Chevrolet and drove every Sunday morning to the village to attend the Church services and meet the neighbors.

By lunchtime he was back on the Tiger’s Eye farm. But he was not interested to mine the Tiger’s Eye. What for?

What would he do with the monies?

Was he a poor man or a rich man?

Whichever way one looks at this question, the fact remains that there is an awful lot of very good Tiger’s Eye on that very large farm.