If you’ve ever heard of Welsh gold it’s probably because it’s traditionally used in wedding rings for the Royals.
Clogau was where gold was first discovered in the mid 1800s - it was one of largest Welsh mines and is one of the few still operating (sort of).
It started out as a copper mine until gold was found in the quartz, which is normally thrown away, precipitating a series of mini gold rushes in the Dolgellau area.
A lot of history is available for this one which I won’t reproduce here, instead adding something about the various locations as we go along.
It’s currently leased by a mineral exploration company and some of the levels (tunnels) are in use, so no pictures of these.
But there are plenty of other disused holes on the Clogau hill to explore as shown on the satellite view below - the red dots are levels marked on 1949 maps, excluding a few on the eastern side.
Starting with the Eliza Level on the south slope, this was started as a drainage level for the higher workings in 1861 at the insistence of Crown mineral agents.
The going was slow despite trying newly developed steam-powered rock drills, and it didn’t get far.
The entrance is next to a ruin, with the tunnel going straight in for maybe 75 yards.
Heading round the hill I had a look for the Bryntirion Level, as well as some older levels shown below but didn’t find anything.
These are supposed to adjacent to an incline, built in the 1840s to take down ore from higher workings to a mill in the valley.
The ruined incline drum house is still there…
…with the lower part of incline now roamed by inquisitive locals.
Walking up a tramway which once carried ore around the mountain to the top of the incline we come to an area of shafts, trials and open workings.
The only explorable thing here is the ‘No 2’ level which targeted mineral veins to the west of a fault which runs down the middle of the hill.
Looking right, a tall stope with holes in the roof.
This goes down a long way but you’d need ropes to get any further - people have obviously been down judging by recent anchors nearby.
Going left past another deep hole, phone pic over the edge…
…is more stope, but it’s on the far side of another chasm in the floor.
This is a recurring feature of the copper/gold mines in this region - a lot is out of reach without climbing equipment.
Further up the hill is the ‘No 1’ or St David’s level, which was aimed at veins to the east of the fault.
Going right at the vein eventually leads to large drop, with holes in the roof letting in light beyond.
A chunk of quartz, which is everywhere in these mines, on the waste tips outside and even in field walls.
This bit is rather clean - the miners were after grubby quartz which contained the finely divided gold which they new from experience occurred in small areas - ‘bonanza loads’ - near intersections with the ‘carboniferous shale’.
In modern parlance the shale acts a reducing agent to precipitate the gold, in much the same way that gold nanoparticles are produced in the lab these days.
The gold was then isolated by grinding up the rock and recovering the specks by a combination of physical and mercury-based methods.
Going left past a hole in the roof with a boulder the size of a bus lodged in it, there are more stopes until a dead end is reached.
Just uphill from here is where some of the holes in the roof emerge, with ruins of a mine office and workshop and more waste tips nearby.
There are several other fenced-off shafts and a run-in level on top of the hill.
continued
Clogau was where gold was first discovered in the mid 1800s - it was one of largest Welsh mines and is one of the few still operating (sort of).
It started out as a copper mine until gold was found in the quartz, which is normally thrown away, precipitating a series of mini gold rushes in the Dolgellau area.
A lot of history is available for this one which I won’t reproduce here, instead adding something about the various locations as we go along.
It’s currently leased by a mineral exploration company and some of the levels (tunnels) are in use, so no pictures of these.
But there are plenty of other disused holes on the Clogau hill to explore as shown on the satellite view below - the red dots are levels marked on 1949 maps, excluding a few on the eastern side.
Starting with the Eliza Level on the south slope, this was started as a drainage level for the higher workings in 1861 at the insistence of Crown mineral agents.
The going was slow despite trying newly developed steam-powered rock drills, and it didn’t get far.
The entrance is next to a ruin, with the tunnel going straight in for maybe 75 yards.
Heading round the hill I had a look for the Bryntirion Level, as well as some older levels shown below but didn’t find anything.
These are supposed to adjacent to an incline, built in the 1840s to take down ore from higher workings to a mill in the valley.
The ruined incline drum house is still there…
…with the lower part of incline now roamed by inquisitive locals.
Walking up a tramway which once carried ore around the mountain to the top of the incline we come to an area of shafts, trials and open workings.
The only explorable thing here is the ‘No 2’ level which targeted mineral veins to the west of a fault which runs down the middle of the hill.
Looking right, a tall stope with holes in the roof.
This goes down a long way but you’d need ropes to get any further - people have obviously been down judging by recent anchors nearby.
Going left past another deep hole, phone pic over the edge…
…is more stope, but it’s on the far side of another chasm in the floor.
This is a recurring feature of the copper/gold mines in this region - a lot is out of reach without climbing equipment.
Further up the hill is the ‘No 1’ or St David’s level, which was aimed at veins to the east of the fault.
Going right at the vein eventually leads to large drop, with holes in the roof letting in light beyond.
A chunk of quartz, which is everywhere in these mines, on the waste tips outside and even in field walls.
This bit is rather clean - the miners were after grubby quartz which contained the finely divided gold which they new from experience occurred in small areas - ‘bonanza loads’ - near intersections with the ‘carboniferous shale’.
In modern parlance the shale acts a reducing agent to precipitate the gold, in much the same way that gold nanoparticles are produced in the lab these days.
The gold was then isolated by grinding up the rock and recovering the specks by a combination of physical and mercury-based methods.
Going left past a hole in the roof with a boulder the size of a bus lodged in it, there are more stopes until a dead end is reached.
Just uphill from here is where some of the holes in the roof emerge, with ruins of a mine office and workshop and more waste tips nearby.
There are several other fenced-off shafts and a run-in level on top of the hill.
continued
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