The history of Clogau Gold

The Birth of Clogau Gold

In 1989, William S. Roberts was amazed to discover the Clogau St. David’s gold mine among the picturesque Snowdonia mountains.

Williams’s original intention, to turn the mine into a tourist attraction, was scrapped due to strict planning restrictions within the Snowdonia National Park area. It was then decided to re-open the mine in the faint hope that there was still some gold left.

Amazingly there was, but only enough to last a few years of small-scale mining where a small stockpile was amassed before the mine closed once again in 1998.

The Clogau Gold story so far…

History of the Clogau St. David’s Gold Mine

Situated amongst the mountains of Snowdonia, near a small village called Bontddu ("bont-thee"), lies the Clogau St. David’s Gold Mine. Within every piece of Clogau Gold jewellery is a touch of rare Welsh gold from this mine.

First used during Roman times, the Clogau mine started as a copper mine. Copper extraction continued until 1854 when gold was first discovered. The owner at the time, a Mr Goodman, picked up a piece of waste rock and broke it in two. As he expected, the cracked fragments showed no trace of copper. What he didn’t expect was the glittering yellow metal that was revealed – gold.

From that day on, the abandoned copper level was given a rich new life. It became the first seam of the Clogau St. David’s Gold Mine.

The mine developed into gold production in the 1862 'rush' and continued as a major operator until 1911 during which over 165,000 tons of gold ore was mined resulting in 78,507 troy ounces (2,442 kg) of gold. It worked the St David's lode of Clogau mountain alongside the co-owned Vigra Mine and became the largest and richest mine of all the gold mines in the Dolgellau gold mining area.

Although the main phase of mining ended in 1911, the mine has operated intermittently and on a much smaller scale since then.

The Gold of Royalty

For nearly 100 years, pure Welsh gold has been used to create generations of the Royal Family’s wedding rings, a tradition founded by Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, in 1923. HRM The Queen’s very own wedding band was crafted from a single nugget of Welsh gold from the Clogau St. David’s mine in Bontddu, Snowdonia.

Other members of the Royal Family that have worn pure Welsh gold wedding rings include Princess Margaret The Countess of Snowdon (1960), Princess Anne The Princess Royal (1973), the late Diana Princess of Wales (1981), Prince Charles (1981 & 2005), The Duchess of Cornwall (2005) and most recently The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (2011).

Rare Welsh gold

Expertly handcrafted and beautifully unique, each piece of Clogau Gold jewellery contains a touch of rare Welsh gold.

Extracted from the Clogau St. David’s mine during a few years of small-scale mining, Clogau’s supply of Welsh gold is finite. The cost of extraction –as much as £1,000 per ounce, due to the irregular nature of where Welsh gold occurs – along with other restrictions such as health and safety, led to the last pieces of gold to be extracted in 1998 and the subsequent closure of the mine.

No gold mining is taking place in Wales today, probably making Welsh gold the rarest gold in the world. For these reasons, we can only include a small amount of this exclusive gold in each piece of jewellery we create, this allows our jewellery to be unique but also affordable, and ensures the longevity of our supplies.

Clogau Gold delights in creating jewellery of the utmost quality, using expert handcraftsmen, solid golds & silvers, high quality stones and diamonds – all crafted into meaningful designs that are inspired by the natural beauty of Wales from where our gold originates.