See also
- Gwynfynydd Gold Mines
- Dolaucothi Gold Mines
- Welsh gold
The Clogau (pronounced "clog-eye") Gold Mine (also known as Clogau St David's) is a gold mine near Bontddu in North Wales.
The Clogau mine was opened to exploit the copper and lead veins in the area north of Bontddu. In 1854, gold was discovered at the mine in a vein of quartz. The main gold-bearing vein was named the "St. David's lode", and in 1860 arrangements were made with the Crown Estate to work the gold commercially. Operations started on 28 August 1860. [1]
Clogau produced significant amounts of gold in the 1890s. In 1899, it produced £60,000 worth of gold (equivalent to £6,905,110in 2020). [2]
In 1919, exploration of the mine found new gold veins. A new crushing plant was installed and the mine was re-opened. [3]
In 1989 the Clogau Gold Mine was re-opened by William Roberts, founder of Clogau Gold of Wales Ltd. Gold extraction re-commenced between 1992 and 1998, with small-scale mining providing the gold for Clogau Gold jewellery. Mining eventually ceased in 1998 due to high cost of mining and diminishing quantities of gold being found.
A 2012 report conducted by Snowdon Mining Consultants on behalf of the previous majority owners of the mine, Gold Mining Wales Ltd (GMW), suggested that as much as 500,000 ounces of gold could be lying untouched in the area surrounding the mine, [4] giving hope that gold may again be extracted from the Clogau Gold Mine. Alba Mineral Resources are now the majority owner of the mine and are currently drilling to assess the commercial viability of reopening parts of the mine. Previous samples taken from a 200 metre long area returned gold grades of 30.2 to 263 grams per tonne, [5] suggesting that previously unrealised supplies of gold could potentially exist.
A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, South Africa, the United States, and Canada while smaller gold rushes took place elsewhere.
Kirkland Lake is a town and municipality in Timiskaming District in Northeastern Ontario, Canada. The 2016 population, according to Statistics Canada, was 7,981.
Risca is a town in the Caerphilly County Borough and the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire in south-east Wales. Risca has a railway station, opened on the Ebbw Valley Railway in February 2008, after a gap of 46 years. It is split into two communities; Risca East and Risca West. It has a population of 11,700.
The Otago Gold Rush was a gold rush that occurred during the 1860s in Central Otago, New Zealand. This was the country's biggest gold strike, and led to a rapid influx of foreign miners to the area - many of them veterans of other hunts for the precious metal in California and Victoria, Australia.
Welsh gold is gold that occurs naturally in two distinct areas of Wales and highly prized because of its origin and scarcity. One area it is found in is north Wales in a band stretching from Barmouth, past Dolgellau and up towards Snowdonia. This was mined at several mines, the largest of which were the Gwynfynydd Gold Mine, near Ganllwyd, and the Clogau Gold Mine near Bontddu. In south Wales, it is found in a small area in the valley of the River Cothi at Dolaucothi where it is known to have been mined by the Romans.
Gwynfynydd Gold Mine is near Ganllwyd, Dolgellau, Gwynedd, Wales. The lode, which was discovered in 1860, was worked from 1884. It has produced more than 45,000 troy ounces of Welsh gold until mining ceased in 1998. The equivalent of 1,400 kg . In April 1986, Queen Elizabeth II was presented with a kilogram of Welsh gold from the mine to celebrate her 60th birthday.
Newcrest Mining Limited is an Australian-based corporation which engages in the exploration, development, mining and sale of gold and gold-copper concentrate. It is Australia's leading gold mining company and its operations have expanded beyond Australia, for example Indonesia, thus becoming a prominent international mining corporation. Newmont Mining Corporation initially started the company as a subsidiary in 1966. The subsidiary became Newmont Holdings Pty Ltd. in 1980 and in 1990 acquired 100 per cent of Australmin Holdings Ltd. taking the current name.
The South Wales Coalfield extends across Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire, Swansea, Neath Port Talbot, Bridgend, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Merthyr Tydfil, Caerphilly, Blaenau Gwent and Torfaen. It is rich in coal deposits, especially in the South Wales Valleys.
Mining in Wales provided a significant source of income to the economy of Wales throughout the nineteenth century and early twentieth century. It was key to the Industrial Revolution.
Copper mining in the United States has been a major industry since the rise of the northern Michigan copper district in the 1840s. In 2017 the United States produced 1.27 million metric tonnes of copper, worth $8 billion, making it the world's fourth largest copper producer, after Chile, China, and Peru. Copper was produced from 23 mines in the US. Top copper producing states in 2014 were Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, and Montana. Minor production also came from Idaho, and Missouri. As of 2014, the US had 45 million tonnes of known remaining reserves of copper, the fifth largest known copper reserves in the world, after Chile, Australia, Peru, and Mexico.
Gold mining in Colorado, a state of the United States, has been an industry since 1858. It also played a key role in the establishment of the state of Colorado.
Gold mining in Alaska, a state of the United States, has been a major industry and impetus for exploration and settlement since a few years after the United States acquired the territory in 1867 from the Russian Empire. Russian explorers discovered placer gold in the Kenai River in 1848, but no gold was produced. Gold mining started in 1870 from placers southeast of Juneau, Alaska.
The New Cornelia mine is a currently inactive open-pit copper mine in Pima County, Arizona, United States. It was the only productive mine in the Ajo mining district, and is located just outside the town of Ajo, which was built as a company town to serve the New Cornelia mines. The roughly circular pit is one and a half miles across at its widest point, and 1,100 feet deep at the center. Although not generally regarded as a 'dam', the New Cornelia Mine Tailings is often cited as the largest dam structure in the United States with a volume of 7.4 billion cubic feet.
The Cobalt silver rush started in 1903 when huge veins of silver were discovered by workers on the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway (T&NO) near the Mile 103 post. By 1905 a full-scale silver rush was underway, and the town of Cobalt, Ontario sprang up to serve as its hub. By 1908 Cobalt produced 9% of the world's silver, and in 1911 produced 31,507,791 ounces of silver. However, the good ore ran out fairly rapidly, and most of the mines were closed by the 1930s. There were several small revivals over the years, notably in World War II and again in the 1950s, but both petered out and today there is no active mining in the area. In total, the Cobalt area mines produced 460 million ounces of silver.
The Sunrise Dam Gold Mine is located 55 km south of Laverton, Western Australia, on the eastern margin of Lake Carey. It is fully owned by AngloGold Ashanti and comprises a large-scale mechanized underground mine with a conventional gravity and leach process plant. In 2015 the mine accounted for 5% of the company's production.
The Bluebird Gold Mine is a gold mine located 15 km south-south-west of Meekatharra, Western Australia.
The Omai Gold Mine is located in Guyana on the north coast of South America near the west bank of the Essequibo River in the interior of the country. Access to Omai is by road from the capital of Georgetown on the coast, and from the town of Linden approximately 60 km away. There is an operational airstrip on site which can accommodate aircraft from Georgetown. Gold mining at Omai is known from at least the 1880s, and when it was developed as a large scale mine in 1992 by Cambior, the mine was the largest gold mine in the Guiana Shield and a major source of income and employment in Guyana. During the period from 1992 – 2005, Omai produced 3.7 Moz of gold at an average grade of 1.5 g/t Au from the Fennell and the Wenot open pits.
Currawang is a locality in the Queanbeyan–Palerang Regional Council, on the edges of Upper Lachlan Shire and Goulburn-Mulwaree Council, in New South Wales, Australia. It is located to the north of Lake George. It shares its name with the Currawang Parish of Argyle County, in which it is located. This was formerly known as the parish of Currowang. Both names derive from an Aboriginal word for the spearwood tree.
Richland Resources Ltd is a gemstone mining, development and exploration company who are listed on the London Stock Exchanges AIM market. (AIM:RLD)
North Yalgogrin is a locality in the Bland Shire local government area of New South Wales. There once was a village there, named Yalgogrin, but better known as Yalgogrin North.