California here we come

Welsh gold prospecting was the Victorian equivalent of the National Lottery. Now, precious metal is glinting in those hills once more, says Harry Pearson

- Harry Pearson

IN the summer of 1862, the cry of 'There's gold in them thar hills!' echoed across the land. Soon, adventurers were loading up their pickaxes and dynamite and dashing off in search of riches. In this case, the siren call of fortune came not from California or Australia, but from a place equally rugged, if a little less sunny—North Wales.

Last month, the auction of three 1oz coins made of gold extracted from the recently reopened Clogau-St David mine in Gwynned was welcome proof that, after a 27-year hiatus, what locals might call twymyn aur is still alive in the Principality. Thanks to the use of cutting-edge technology, new seams of the precious metal have finally been discovered.

Welsh gold has a long history. The Romans mined it so profitably that their principal workings at Dolaucothi in Carmarthenshire were guarded by a fort, but, after the Empire collapsed so, too, did Welsh gold mining. Come the 1850s, the fever for finding precious metal was given fresh impetus by discoveries of gold in the Australian state of Victoria. Suddenly, ordinary people were getting rich in moments. Gold prospecting became the Victorian equivalent of the National Lottery—it could transform your life in a flash of luck.

'Gold guaranteed boom times for "gallant little Wales",