Gold price brings prospectors to the Highlands
The high price of gold, reported by Geoff yesterday, is giving a clear signal to a mining company in the Highlands of Scotland that it should start production from a gold mine that was first drilled 20 years ago, but has never been commercially worked because the price of gold did not provide enough incentive to the producers. However with the price of gold now at $1100 per ounce, mining operations could become profitable. Scotgold owns the Coronish mine near Tyndrum, a small village which is en route to Glen Coe, Fort William and Skye. Next month it will apply for planning permission begin mining operations in 2010 and this report from The Guardian says that Cononish is expected to start producing 200kg of gold a year at the mine site when full-scale mining begins in 2011 – enough to produce 30,000 wedding rings a year – and another 500kg each year by sending rocks for processing elsewhere.
