Cononish Mine

Overview

Cononish, on the edge of the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, is Scotland's only currently operating gold mine — and, unusually for this site, a working concern rather than a historical ruin. Alluvial gold panning in the area goes back centuries, but the underground deposit that's mined today wasn't discovered until the 1980s.

History

Alluvial gold has been recorded in the streams around Tyndrum since at least the 16th century, and the district was historically worked mainly for lead. The in-situ gold mineralisation at Cononish itself wasn't discovered until the mid-1980s, and underground prospecting began in autumn 1988, driving a level toward a promising structure under Beinn Chuirn. A 1,280 m exploration adit was completed between 1989 and 1991 by a succession of prospective operators, before Scotgold Resources Ltd acquired the project in May 2007, inheriting drilling cores, reports and equipment from the previous owner, Fynegold Exploration. Planning permission for full mine development followed in 2011, and after a lengthy development period the mine poured its first gold in August 2016 following an ore-processing trial, before ramping toward fuller production through the following years.

Geology

The deposit is a narrow, steeply-dipping quartz-carbonate vein hosted in metamorphic rock, carrying pyrite-rich, galena-bearing ore graded at around 9.4 grams per tonne of gold and 53 grams per tonne of silver — high grade for a UK deposit, if narrow.

Workings

Ore is worked underground via the exploration adit driven in 1989–91 and subsequent development. As of the most recent information available, production continues on a modest scale, characteristic of a small, high-grade vein deposit rather than a bulk mining operation.

What remains

The mine remains in active operation, run by Scotgold Resources, making it Scotland's only currently working gold mine.

As an active mine, the site consists of modern mining and processing infrastructure rather than historic remains.

Redevelopment

None applicable — the site is an active, developing mine rather than a historic one awaiting redevelopment.

This is an active mining operation. It is not open to public access, and this entry describes its history and general location only.

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each attached to the source(s) that support it below. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

• The Cononish deposit is graded at approximately 9.4 grams per tonne of gold and 53 grams per tonne of silver. ¹
• In-situ gold mineralisation at Cononish was not discovered until the mid-1980s, despite alluvial gold panning in the wider Tyndrum area being recorded since at least the 16th century. ²
• A January 2009 report, made before large-scale operations resumed at Cononish, describes mining equipment including tipper trucks and an excavator still standing underground, along with visible gold in the rock and a narrow older adit that leads out behind a waterfall. (uncertain) ³

Photographs & further reading

This page doesn't try to reproduce everything — these are the best original sources found for this mine.

Images

Sources

1. (secondary) Cononish Mine — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) Cononish Gold mine, Tyndrum, Stirling, Scotland, UK — Mindat
3. (observational) Cononish Gold Mine — January 2009 — 28DaysLater