Gold in them thar hills as mine granted key approval

The company aiming to launch Scotland's first commercial gold mine is to start rock-breaking in the new year after receiving the green light.

Scotgold is looking forward to a very exciting 2019, according to chief executive Richard Gray. Picture: John Devlin.

Scotgold said all 19 pre-start conditions and other obligations relating to the relevant planning application have now been discharged by the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Planning Authority.

Consequently, Scotgold’s subsidiary SGZ Cononish is today set to initiate development activities at its Cononish Gold and Silver Project.

It comes after what Aim-quoted Scotgold acknowledged has been an “extended timeline”. Its first planning application was rejected in August 2010.

Chief executive Richard Gray said: “We are delighted to have reached this point and are looking forward to a very exciting 2019, bringing the Cononish Project into production. We hope our many stakeholders will follow us on this journey, culminating in first gold production planned for end of 2019.”