Mining Intelligence and News
United Kingdom

Cononish Mine

Click for more information

Categories

Summary

Mine TypeUnderground
StageRestarting
Commodities
  • Gold
  • Silver
Mining Method
  • Longhole stoping
Backfill type ... Lock
Project Timeline... Lock
SnapshotCononish is a high-grade underground mining operation with a central processing plant, which produced gold concentrate for off-take and gold doré for the Scottish jewellery industry. At the end of September 2023, mining and production ceased. A care and maintenance programme has been put in place.

On 24 November 2023, Scotgold Resources announced the appointment of administrators.

On 10 March 2025, Acrux Sorting Technology announced a strategic investment in SGZ Cononish Limited.

The investment will see Cononish recapitalised and returned to operation, with the final restoration completed rather than the site being abandoned.

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Acrux Sorting Technology 80 % Indirect
The Cononish Gold and Silver Project is owned by SGZ Cononish Ltd, which is 80% held by Acrux Gold Limited - a wholly owned subsidiary of Acrux Sorting Technology - and 20% by other stakeholders.

In March 2025, Acrux acquired its majority stake as part of a long-term investment to recapitalise and restart the mine.

Deposit type

  • Vein / narrow vein

Summary:

The Cononish deposit is hosted in a meta-sedimentary sequence of schists, pelites, quartzites, psammites and calcareous rocks of the Appin and Argyll Groups belonging to the Dalradian Supergroup.

The gold and silver mineralisation occurs within a steeply-dipping quartz vein which is up to 8.3m wide and has an average width of about 1.8m.

The vein system was emplaced during the late to post-tectonic late Silurian to early Devonian episode of granitoid intrusion in the Grampian Highlands. It shows both brittle and ductile style deformation and completely postdates metamorphism and associated Caledonian foliations. Quartz veining is associated with the Tyndrum Fault, one of a set of northeast southwest trending, left lateral, faults characterizing the Scottish Highlands.

Gold occurs as electrum (a natural gold / silver alloy) and some minor amounts of native (pure) gold; silver occurs additionally as minor tellurides. The gold/electrum is fine-grained, generally <100 µm in size. Visible gold up to 1,000 µm to 2,000 µm in size is rare. Assay data suggests that gold and silver is spatially associated with sulphides in the quartz vein. The main sulphide is pyrite, but galena, chalcopyrite and sphalerite occur in small amounts.

Although the vein outcrops on surface in limited areas, this will not be exposed by mining and little weathering and no supergene alteration has been encountered to date.

Reserves

Lock

- subscription is required.

Mining Methods

Lock

- subscription is required.

Heavy Mobile Equipment

Lock

- subscription is required.

Comminution

Crushers and Mills

Lock

- subscription is required.

Processing

Lock

- subscription is required.

Commodity Production

At the end of September 2023, the Scotgold advised that mining and production had ceased. A care and maintenance program has been put in place.
CommodityProductUnits202320222021Avg. AnnualLOM
Gold Metal in doré oz 23,500185,000
Silver Metal in doré oz 92,000740,000

Operational metrics

Metrics2022
Ore tonnes mined  ....  Subscribe
Tonnes milled  ....  Subscribe

Production Costs

CommodityAverage
Cash costs Gold  ....  Subscribe
All-in sustaining costs (AISC) Gold  ....  Subscribe
Assumed price Silver  ....  Subscribe
Assumed price Gold  ....  Subscribe
* According to 2020 study / presentation.

Project Costs

MetricsUnitsLOM Total
Total CapEx $M GBP  ......  Subscribe
Total OpEx $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Gross revenue (LOM) $M USD  ......  Subscribe
EBITDA (LOM) $M USD  ......  Subscribe

Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Aug 14, 2025
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Aug 8, 2025
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Aug 14, 2025

Workforce

Aerial view:

Lock

- subscription is required.