Welsh gold: The ‘rarest gold in the world’

If you’re ever looking for expensive gold jewellery – not just any old gold jewellery, mind you, but with gold of such fine quality and such rarity as befits a royal family – you might want to consider having it made of Welsh gold.

Pure Welsh gold has been used for generations to create wedding rings for Britain’s royalty, with the Queen Mother, Queen Elizabeth, Princess Margaret, Princess Diana, Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall all receiving a ring made of the metal since 1923. On April 29, 2011, the tradition continued with the much-publicized royal wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, though Prince William decided not to wear his ring out of personal preference. Demand for Welsh gold has subsequently skyrocketed, driving up the price as consumers around the world try to get their hands on anything worn by Catherine Middleton.

The problem, so to speak, is that there is very little Welsh gold left to sell. There are no active gold mines in Wales today and there have not been any since 1998, when small-scale production at the Clogau St. David’s mine in north Wales shut down. Popularly perceived as rose-tinged, the small nuggets are collected each year from panning in Welsh rivers and streams, before being smelted down and crafted in tiny amounts into otherwise standard gold jewellery. Hallmarked and identified by the Welsh dragon stamp, the pieces demand a hefty premium at market. 

Fortunately, one jeweller, Clogau Gold of Wales, remains in control of a small stockpile of Welsh gold. Founded by William Roberts in 1989, Clogau Gold reopened the Clogau St. David’s mine for six years in the nineties, extracting a “small, though steady supply” of high-grade gold from its quartz veins, which it now uses to make several fine lines of jewellery. 

Clogau had been Britain’s largest and richest copper-gold mine in the early 1900s before eventually closing after the gold veins became increasingly inconsistent and difficult to locate. According to one popular account, a Clogau miner once said: “Finding gold in most mines around the world is like finding the cream in a sponge cake – finding Welsh gold, on the other hand, is like finding the sixpence in the biggest Christmas cake you could imagine. There’s no pattern, no logic and you never know when you’re just inches away.”

Because of the limited stockpile of official Clogau Welsh gold, the jewellery company now says “only a touch” of the rare Welsh gold is included within each of its pieces (which are mostly made in China). “This ensures the longevity of Welsh gold supplies, and the affordability of the jewellery,” according to the company’s website. This also makes Welsh gold “possibly the rarest gold in the world,” because “Welsh gold supplies will eventually run out.” Almost all of the company’s jewellery is two-toned: either yellow gold with rose gold detailing, or sterling silver with rose gold detailing. The Welsh gold is usually infused into the rose gold detailing.

In 1998, facing low metals prices and high operating costs – as much as £1,000, or approximately US$1,660 per oz. – Clogau Gold closed the mine. A spokesperson for Clogau Gold would not confirm what happened next to the company’s mineral claims, however, saying only that “we previously owned the rights to the mine, but we don’t anymore.” They were reportedly bought by a local company in 1999, which did little with them over the next 10 years. 

Now, with the price of gold reaching almost £1,200 in August, a private U.K.-based company named Midas Exploration claims to have acquired the rights to Clogau St. David’s, putting Clogau Gold’s cornerhold on the market in jeopardy.

Little is known about the new owners, who did not respond to The Northern Miner‘s requests for comment. According to public filings with the Registrar of Companies for England and Wales, Midas Exploration has just three shareholders: Jennifer Cossins-Price, Nigel Blayney and Merion Rhys Thomas. 

TNM tracked down the second shareholder, Blayney, who appears well-placed to profit from a sudden increase in Welsh gold supply. He is the managing director of Cymru-Y Metel, a jewellery retailer based in Gloucestershire, England, that specializes in Welsh gold. 

Although Blayney’s secretary said he was too busy to talk at the moment, she acknowledged Blayney was wary to talk to a reporter, because “you [could] say things and foul things up with the Crown and such, so we’re a bit cautious at the moment. We need to be really careful.”

Should Midas Exploration manage to put the Clogau St. David’s mine back into production, and Cymru-Y Metel strike a deal with the Crown giving it some sort of royal connection or the right to sell its gold as official Clogau Welsh gold, the operation could well put an end to Clogau Gold’s near monopoly on the premium Welsh gold market.

In the U.K., Midas Exploration is already causing a stir. On its website, the company proudly displays several pictures of visible gold in quartz taken from inside the Clogau mine, and notes: “It is a common misperception that Welsh gold and especially Clogau Welsh gold is rose or pink in colour. It couldn’t be more yellow, as you can see from the pictures.” 

The company claims to have acquired the old mine in November 2010, and that it is now “working hard to bring the mine back to a safe standard after a long period of neglect.” 

A prudent person might take this as a sign to wait a few years before shelling out for some expensive Welsh gold. There may soon be a new dealer in town, with Welsh gold jewellery on the cheap.