Luxury jewellers in Royal gold rush
INTERNATIONAL jewellery firms are vying for a stake in a historic Welsh gold mine that has supplied the precious metal for three generations of Royal wedding rings.
Alba Mineral Resources, which owns the mining exploration licence over a 107 square kilometre gold belt in Wales, is preparing to restart production near the historic Clogau St David’s gold mine, which has been closed since 1999.
Alba expects to start production within two to three years, and plans to diversify into producing gold coins and bars.
It is currently exploring ten new gold targets it has identified in the 30km-long Dolgellau belt in
Snowdonia, and chairman George Frangeskides said he has ‘every expectation’ the firm will find gold.
A number of luxury jewellery firms have expressed interest in partnering with Alba to produce exclusive Welsh gold collections, Frangeskides told The Mail on Sunday.
Welsh gold has been used to make the Royal Family’s wedding rings since 1923, when the Queen Mother, then Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, married the Duke of York.
In recent years, the Duke and
Duchess of Cambridge and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex wore wedding rings made with Welsh gold.
It sells for a significant premium to the gold spot price, currently £1,139 an ounce, due to its scarcity, heritage and Royal connections.
In 2017, a Welsh auction house sold a gold nugget of Welsh gold weighing 3g (0.1oz) for £4,000.
Alba expects the Clogau St David’s mine to be commercially viable if it produces a few thousand ounces of gold a year.
The AIM-listed firm plans to fund development of the mine by selling some of its other assets.