{"id":1160312,"date":"2020-01-16T08:41:46","date_gmt":"2020-01-16T14:41:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=1011439"},"modified":"2020-01-16T08:41:46","modified_gmt":"2020-01-16T14:41:46","slug":"scotgold-looks-for-new-targets-as-it-readies-to-open-scotlands-first-commercial-gold-mine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1160312","title":{"rendered":"Scotgold looks for new targets as it readies to open Scotland\u2019s first commercial gold mine"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Scotgold Resources (LON: SGZ), the company aiming to open Scotland\u2019s first commercial gold and silver mine in Cononish, is seeking its next big discovery by stepping up sediment and soil sampling programs across the Grampian project, in the Scottish Highlands.<\/p>\n<div class='d-flex justify-content-center d-xs-block d-sm-block d-md-none'>\n<div id='div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0'><script>googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0');});<\/script><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&#8220;Although our prime focus continues to be the development of the Cononish mine, our exploration activities continue to build an exciting portfolio of anomalies which will form the basis for potential future drilling programs in the years to come,&#8221; chief executive Richard Gray <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scotgoldresources.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/January-15-2020_RNS-8932Z_Grampian-Project-Update..pdf\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">said in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The company, which is close to declare commercial production at Cononish, has been working to&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/development-scotlands-first-commercial-gold-mine-gets-going\/\" >reopen the abandoned gold mine<\/a>&nbsp;near Tyndrum for almost 13 years. The hope, Gray&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/c9547b7c-262d-11ea-9a4f-963f0ec7e134\" >told FT.com<\/a>, is that the project proves the viability of precious metal extraction in Scotland.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote alignright\">\n<blockquote>\n<p>Chief executive, Richard Gray, expects to see a &#8220;mini gold rush&#8221; in the Scottish Highlands in coming years.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p>\u201cIt sounds a bit presumptuous and grandiose, but we do see this as being the start of a gold mining industry in Scotland,\u201d Gray told FT.com. \u201cI think there will be a sort of mini gold rush, potentially, in the years to come.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>While gold panning has a long history in Scotland, investor worries<br \/>\nand opposition from environmentalists have botched attempt to take the activity<br \/>\nto an industrial level.<\/p>\n<p>Scotland has survived green activists\u2019 disapproval, mainly focused on the scale of the tailing that will be left behind, scoring a major win in early 2018. At the time, it <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/scotland-first-commercial-gold-mine\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">received initial approval<\/a> for Cononish, about 80 km (50 miles) north of Glasgow.<\/p>\n<p>The asset produced its first gold in August 2016, following the<br \/>\nlaunch of an ore processing trial. After the local authorities gave the<br \/>\nproject&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/scotland-first-commercial-gold-mine\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">their blessing<\/a>, the company began building a large-scale<br \/>\noperation.<\/p>\n<p>Now Scotgold is about to start producing at its underground<br \/>\nmine with an initial output capacity of 23,500 ounces of gold annually, for up<br \/>\nto 17 years.<\/p>\n<p>The company expects to process around 3,000 tonnes of ore<br \/>\nper month in the first phase, which it says will double in phase two.<\/p>\n<p>As many as 52 jobs could be created during production, and<br \/>\nthe firm has offered nearly \u00a3500,000 (about $612K) in payments to support the<br \/>\nlocal community of Tyndrum.<\/p>\n<p>The small village is currently a local tourist destination,<br \/>\nknown mostly for being at a junction of major transport routes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The company, which is close to declare commercial production at Cononish, has stepped up sediment and soil sampling programs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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