The mining company’s boss wants to restart gold extraction in North Wales after revealing that new technology could help them find the “next Clogau”.
Originally operated as a copper and lead mine, gold extraction began at Clogau mine, which resides in the Dolgellau gold belt, in 1854 after being accidentally discovered.
The mine was re-opened in 1989 by William Roberts, founder of Clogau Gold of Wales Ltd.
He began gold extraction in 1992 with a small-scale mining providing the gold for Clogau Gold
Mining eventually ceased in 1998 due to the high cost of mining and diminishing quantities of gold being found.
It was announced last year that AIM-listed Alba Mineral Resources had purchased a stake in Gold Mines of Wales Limited, which owns the Clogau mine.
George Frangeskides, Alba’s executive chairman, has said that newly developed scanning technology can help find valuable Welsh gold in the existing Clogau mine as well as new mines in a 104 sq km area in which they have exploration rights.
He said: “There is a double intention here. Firstly exploration of the Clogau mine and getting work restarted on that site.
“Secondly the option includes 104sq km of land in the Dolgellau Gold Belt, we want to see if we can find the next Clogau.”
“We now have more technology to help us find un-worked veins in the mines. The scanning technology has advanced and has not so far been used on this site.
“We can build up a comprehensive 3D computer model of the Clogau mine which can help with our exploration of the site.
“This is a narrow vein and structurally complex, we need this technology and experts on board to find where any remaining gold is.”
On finding new sites, he added: “There are around 100 old workings in this area, we want to target some of the most interesting ones in the Dolgellau gold belt.”
“We know that Welsh gold attracts a premium and it could be that we sell to the market. The other option is some involvement ourselves in an integration model and the production of products from the Welsh gold.”
Over the years, the Dolgellau gold belt has produced about 131,000 ounces of gold, the most of any UK region.
Most of this gold (81,000 oz) has been mined from Clogau mine.
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