As a Texan and the daughter of a rancher, my family album is full of pictures of men—and a couple of women—with their arms dangling atop the saddle of a dusty horse, deep in the wilds of Montana, Wyoming, Alaska, the Amazon, or Mexico. Such feats ceased to amaze me when I was about five years old as I was pictured almost every weekend with a 10-foot crocodile or giant fish pulled from a bay. A few minutes into my conversation with White Yeager and I realized he could stand any of these daredevils. However, I had nothing left for the true White Jaeger. Far from being a “geotype,” the Yeager is an eclectic breed of tweeds and grit, aptly named after the historic cowboy, Wyatt Earp.
Yeager will be the first to tell you that digging for diamonds is nothing like Indiana Jones’ iconic depiction of the intrepid hero, jewel in hand, angry citizens in his back, on the brink between extinction and exorbitant wealth. However, a few minutes into our conversation, I found out he had escaped riots, been stabbed in Venezuela, been bitten by piranhas, and met people who had never seen a white man.
Yeager, nicknamed “The Wolf” by his colleagues, is an undisputed genius. “In my late teens, I became obsessed with diamond prospecting and mining after finding some small stones in an alluvial mining operation in California,” he told me when asked how he chose such a profession. It can be said that “Diamond Mining 101” is not listed as an undergraduate credit course. However, Yeager refers to himself as an “explorer” – by trade, he explores and mines diamonds in Africa and South America.
Turns out, the little stones he discovered in California fueled a passion that hasn’t waned yet. Yeager reveals how his upbringing prepared him for the diamond business, “I grew up working in the gold fields of Alaska, Central America, and California with my grandfather and father who consulted engineers and mine owners.” With a family that originally came west to the California Gold Rush of 1849 and later to the diamond fields of South Africa, mining seems to be in his blood.
Regarding the subject matter of his work, Yeager asserts, “I consider myself part of the old-school colonial exploration crowd.” By this, Yeager means he differs from upcoming geology graduates who prefer to sit behind a computer screen and interpret geological maps and reports. Yeager, at 36, is the youngest and one of the last people to do real “old-fashioned” exploration work with a pick and shovel. As he fiddles with his pen, he shares how lucky he was to grow up in the mining industry, being trained by “wacky old geologists.” You can tell he enjoys field work and would consider being tethered to a computer.
Those interactions with geologists in old-school South Africa must have made an impression on him. Yeager’s search for the diamond tube has led him away from technology and deep into some of the most inhospitable places on earth – which even the bravest of men might give a wide berth. Even following his travels as the path of the blue dot on the map is scary. During his early twenties, Yeager found himself deep in the piranha-infested waters of the Venezuelan jungle. However, this was more than a short-term reconnaissance. Yeager, also an academically trained anthropologist, was adept at embracing the natives, building a hospital and school in the backwaters he inhabited as he searched for diamonds. Most convincingly, he seems to have won the allegiance of even the most experienced warriors and adventurers as he moved through Venezuela into Africa and beyond, which tells us more about the man than it would of himself.
Throughout our interview, Yeager was down to earth. I’ve seen this before in guys like Yeager. They rarely open up because even their average feats are so amazing that they seem out of reach to the rest of us normal people. I know that with a little (or a lot) cognac and some motivation, I’ll have the blueprint for a great adventure novel. When I ask for facts and stories about his life, Yeager shrugs; Suggests other people and other interviews as a source of information. I left searching for more information on diamonds because this is something he will talk about.
It turns out that Yeager has his eye on the United States for his next project. Although he is still chasing prospects for diamonds in Africa and Brazil, gold in Mali and Sierra Leone, and blue sapphires in Tanzania, it was here that his final search for the “extraordinary” diamond began. Says Yeager, “I’m known as a ‘fixer’ in this business. I’ve been contracting for years constantly to get other companies’ mining operations up and running and making them profitable. After all these years, I want to take the time to work on my own operations.” The increasing demand for diamonds, coupled with slow production rates, has raised the stakes for discovery. why not? We’ve seen oil wells boom again in the US – more than the Saudis have to offer. Why not diamonds then? Very few new diamond sites have been discovered globally in recent years. Indeed, Yeager expects deposits in the United States that may create a paradigm shift in global diamond production.
Having escaped civil wars, stabbings, ambushes, and angry natives, the United States seems tame even in its roughest and most remote regions. If diamonds can be mined here, Yeager is the guy to do it. Like an Indiana Jones legend, Yeager has academic and athletic acumen paired with a risk-taking spirit that has fueled his success. As a critical advisor to programs throughout Africa and South America, Yeager has created a new standard for diamond exploration and mining technologies. It is known for creating engineering and manufacturing equipment to recover minerals that are considered to be the best in the mining industry.
Yeager’s extensive field experience, combined with his technical knowledge may make him the first of its kind to open up diamond mining in the United States. Like the ancient wildebeest, Yeager may be on his way to legend. One thing is for sure though, given enough cognac and a tape recorder, it could easily make money as Clive Cussler’s latest contender.