JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Aim-listed Alba Minerals has acquired a 49% interest in the Clogau gold mine, in Wales, which the company aims to bring back into production.
The Clogau gold project, which comprises the mine and a number of gold targets over a 106.94 km2 area, is situated in the Dolgellau gold belt, which has produced about 131 000 oz of gold – the most of any region in the UK.
Alba has agreed to issue 83.34-million shares to Primorus Investment for the 49% shareholding in Gold Mines of Wales (GMOW), which is the parent company of the project. The consideration is valued at about £316 667.
Announcing the acquisition on Monday, the company said it would assist GMOW to fast-track the redevelopment of the Clogau mine, including the preparation of a planning application to be submitted for reopening the mine.
Alba explained that, initially, it would focus on detailed underground structural mapping and sampling to modernise the geological interpretation of the project. Thereafter, the focus would shift to an airborne magnetic and electro-magnetic survey over the most prospective areas of the project to detect deeper targets at and around the Clogau gold mine itself, which had never been drilled or mined, as well to identify significant structures within the wider exploration ground for follow-up drilling.
"The opportunity presented by this project is pretty unique – high-grade gold in the heart of the UK, the fact that Welsh gold attracts a significant premium over spot rates, the historic connections of Welsh gold with the heritage of the UK, the potential for finding more gold in the vastly under-explored exploration ground - all these are factors which together make a strong case for investment,” executive chairperson George Frangeskides said in a statement.
He pointed out that Welsh gold was potentially worth between three and five times the spot gold price and that the British Royal Family had been using Welsh gold to create their wedding rings for about a century.