Gold rush
Where the royals always go for their wedding rings
Deep in the oak woods, on the banks of Snowdonia’s River Mawddach, is a tumbledown collection of abandoned slate and corrugated steel buildings. Bats roost in the rafters and wood ants teem across cracked concrete floors. A door hanging off its hinges is marked with “Mr Wheeler. Manager” – but an empty pigeonhole is all that remains of his office.
Look a little closer at the overgrown train tracks leading to a shuttered-up entrance in the cliffface, though, and it becomes clear why hundreds of men once toiled here.
There is gold in these hills – so precious, it is fit for royalty.
In two weeks’ time, at St George’s Chapel in Windsor, Prince Harry will slip a wedding band on to the finger of his new bride.
And, perhaps, she will present him with one in return.
While the couple have already displayed their willingness to not be constrained by convention, it is likely there is one they will adhere to. As was the case with his brother and father before him – and so too the Queen and every other major Royal wedding spanning the 20th century – the rings for Prince Harry’s wedding will probably be made of pure Welsh gold from these mines.
The rarity of Welsh gold is what makes it so coveted. Where prospectors mining in parts of Africa and Australia liken the process to following the jam through a Victoria sponge, looking for Welsh gold is akin to finding the sixpence in a Christmas pudding.
Indeed, the infrequency of its seams is what eventually led to the collapse of the industry in these valleys – but a modernday gold rush could soon be about to commence. The prized nature of Welsh gold is, of course, enhanced by its royal approval. “We’re tremendously lucky to have the royal connection,” say Ben Roberts, the managing director of Welsh jewellery firm Clogau, which owns the Gwynfynydd Mine and hopes to begin exploratory digging here again soon.
“It’s a romantic story and we’re selling a romantic product.”
The modern link between the Royal family and Welsh gold began in 1911, with the investiture of Prince Edward (later King Edward VIII) as the Prince of Wales during a lavish ceremony at Caernarfon Castle on the fringes of Snowdonia.
Every piece of his crown regalia that day – including his coronet, rod, ring, sword and mantle – was fringed with Welsh gold taken from the last two operational mines in the so-called Dolgellau Gold-belt: Gwynfynydd and the Clogau St David’s mine.
The wedding rings of the Queen Mother (1923), the Queen (1947), Princess Margaret (1960), Princess Anne (1973) and Diana, Princess of Wales (1981) were all made with Welsh gold. When the Duchess of Cambridge married Prince William in 2011 she followed suit.
Roberts, 40, explains that, as is customary, we will not know if Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have decided to do the same with their wedding rings until the day itself.
He is optimistic that they will follow tradition. “But they are a very modern couple, so perhaps they will break with it.” He hastens to add: “We hope not, of course.”
While there is evidence of gold mining taking place in South Wales as far back as the Roman era, the precious metal was first discovered in the Dolgellau belt in the mid-19th century.
The Clogau St David’s and Gwynfynydd mines soon became the largest in the country, with hundreds of men working below ground. It is said the former comprises a network of some eight miles of tunnels cut through the slate and quartz. At its peak, according to Roberts, 128,000 ounces of gold were mined from here in a single year.
But despite the rich deposits contained within them, over the following century the market turned towards foreign shores.
Clogau St David’s first closed its doors in 1989 and Gwynfynydd in 1996.
Prior to the closure, the Royal family was offered a gift of two 2.2lb ingots from each mine – the one from Gwynfynydd was presented to the Queen for her 60th birthday.
By Roberts’s calculation, the two ingots (worth around £35,000 each today) are enough to provide wedding rings to the Royal family for the next few hundred years.
Despite the lavish nature of any Royal wedding, Roberts says the Windsors tend to opt for very simple wedding bands of 18-carat rather than 22-carat gold – the remaining 25per cent is made up of alloys to ensure they are hard wearing.
Specially appointed jewellers are tasked with making the rings. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge opted for the jeweller Wartski; Prince Harry and Meghan’s jeweller of choice has not yet been disclosed.
The Clogau firm was established by Roberts’s father, Bill, in 1989. A retired frozen food dealer, he decided to reopen the Clogau St David’s mine in order to establish it as a tourist attraction. His ambition was to construct a cable car to bring visitors in, but he was thwarted by planning guidelines within the national park.
Roberts says his father was left on the verge of bankruptcy – “holding the baby with a huge hole in the ground and nothing to do with it”. And so, he decided to mine.
In the early Nineties, Bill established a small-scale operation at Clogau, recruiting around half a dozen men to head underground. At the same time, he expanded the Clogau jewellery business as the only large-scale commercial operation selling Welsh gold – each piece sold today contains between one and five per cent Welsh gold, and the rest is comprised of so-called “world gold” bought from the global market.
Raymond Roberts (no relation) worked down the Clogau mine until it closed. He was primarily a millman, crushing the ore that contained flecks of gold.
He recalls a dark, dirty occupation, with miners often underground eight hours a day. Still, unlike their 19th-century counterparts, he is grateful they did not have to work by candlelight, with only timber supports holding up the rock face above.
The mining continued until 1998, when Clogau decided to focus simply on the jewellery business, which today has a turnover of around £15million a year. Two years ago, though, the company bought the rights to the Gwynfynydd mine and has lodged an application with the national park to resume exploratory mining there, after being granted permission by the Crown Estate.
At the same time Clogau, which relinquished the mineral rights to the Clogau St David’s mine seven years ago but still owns the land around it, is also “actively pursuing” the possibility of resuming mining operations there.
“Our aim is to reopen either mine,” says Ben Roberts. “Realistically, the minimum we could expect to be doing it in would be two years.”
Like many in the area, the 58-yearold Raymond Roberts is hopeful the proposal will go ahead and that these ghostly tunnels can be brought back to life.
“It is a shame that this is almost a dying village and yet we have a gold mine,” he says. “With a small-scale operation it could go on for a long time yet.”
For now, though, solace could come from the sight of Welsh gold being paraded on the grandest stage of all. Take note, Prince Harry.