He consequently informed his workers, who had been brought in from South Africa because of their experience in railroad workings, to look out for unusually shiny stones.
He found more pretty stones after a systematic search of the area and took them to his friend, mining engineer Sönke Nissen who lived in Lüderitz, where they were confirmed to be diamonds in June 1908.
These diamonds had flushed through the Orange River into the sea millions of years ago where the wind and waves washed it back in the sand of the Namib.
Stauch and Nissen initially kept the knowledge of the find to themselves, and only announced it after securing a 75-acre claim at Kolmanskop in order to continue to do diamond searching.
A diamond rush set in, and the German government took immediate interest in the activities at Lüderitz, and dispatched the Secretary For The Colonies to investigate the situation and bring order and control to the industry.