|
Click
here to Shop for
have
always believed in creating the most beautiful jewellery. Here
in Wales with our ancient history, mythology and wonderful natural
scenery, we have the inspiration to create the most unique, stunning
and collectable jewellery made from the rarest, most exclusive
gold in the world.
The Story of
WITHIN THE MOUNTAINS OF SNOWDONIA lies one of Wales’s greatest
secrets – a secret that laid dormant until it was brought
back to life 20 years ago by a Welsh family. Their discovery would
herald the birth of jewellery...
Situated in Bontddu, ("bont-thee"), North Wales, is
the Clogau St. David’s Gold Mine, which was first used during
Roman Times, probably to extract copper.
The mine started life as a copper mine but in 1854 gold
was discovered. The owner at the time, a Mr. Goodman, picked up
a piece of waste rock and broke it in two. As he expected, the
cracked fragments showed no trace of copper. What he didn’t
expect was the glittering yellow metal that was revealed – gold.
From that day on, the abandoned copper level was given a rich
new life. It became the first seam of the Clogau St. David’s
Gold mine.
The mine developed into gold production in the 1862 'rush' and
continued as a major operator until 1911 during which over
165,000 tons of gold ore was mined resulting in 78,507 troy ounces
(2,442 kg) of gold. It worked the St David's lode of Clogau mountain
alongside the co-owned Vigra Mine and became the largest and richest
mine of all the gold mines in the Dolgellau gold mining area.
Although the main phase of mining ended in 1911, the mine has
operated intermittently and on a much smaller scale since then.
In 1989 William S. Roberts was amazed to discover this mine Among
the beautiful Snowdonia mountains. Sadly, it had been neglected
for some time but he and his family were determined to bring it
back to life.
His original intention was to turn it into a tourist attraction.
But strict planning restrictions in the Snowdonia National Park
meant the idea never materialised. So he decided to re-open the
mine in the hope that some gold was still left.
Amazingly there was, but only enough to last about 3 years of
small-scale mining. The miners who retrieved it were direct descendants
of those original mid-Victorian prospectors and they amassed a
small stockpile before the mine closed again in 1998
Back
|
