Mining contractors will be happy to learn that Scotgold Resources has accomplished a major milestone in its effort to restart mining for gold and silver at its mine at Tyndrum in Scotland. Even though the UK has closed the last of its collieries, the mining industry in the country is witnessing a revival.
Scotgold announced that it will soon start processing part of its 7,000-tonne stockpile at a site near Loch Lomond. This site is located inside the Trossachs National Park, and very soon the company will begin full-scale mining. The equipment for the project is being shipped from South Africa.
The project is fully permitted and will take place one kilometre inside the boundaries of the national park. Mining first started in the 1990s, and Scotgold purchased the high-grade Cononish gold and silver site in 2007. Based on a study conducted in May 2015, the mine has reserves of 198,000 ounces of gold and 851,000 ounces of silver. The grade of the former is 11.1 g/t, while that of the latter is 48 g/t.
Scotgold is looking to produce about 20,000 ounces of gold and 80,000 ounces of silver each year for the next eight years. This opens up wonderful opportunities for mining contractors involved in gold and silver extraction.
The company has a modest capital outlay for the project – about US$34 million. Scotgold revealed that the cost for operating the mine was just $523 per ounce.
Scotgold Chief Executive Richard Gray said that the company was looking to gain from the high demand for jewellery and souvenirs among visitors coming to the Scottish highlands. He added that offering visitors 100 per cent Scottish gold will help increase its value.
Scotgold is also performing exploration activities on the land it owns just outside the boundary of the park at River Vein. It is also undertaking similar activities at its gold project site at Grampian, where it has over 4,000 square kilometres under option.
