The site of the platinum find lies close to the West Highland Way, between Tyndrum and Bridge of Orchy
The company reopening a gold mine in a Scottish national park says it has found traces of platinum at a site close by.
Scotgold Resources, which was granted permission to restart mining of gold and silver at the Cononish site in the shadow of Ben Lui, said drilling has revealed the presence of ‘highly anomalous’ platinum group elements, as well as gold and other metals.
The find was on Sròn Garbh, the north-east ridge of the 653m (2,142ft) Beinn Bheag, which lies 2km (1¼ miles) north of Tyndrum, beside the A82, and just outside the boundary of the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs national park.
The site is within view of the West Highland Way, Scotland’s most popular long-distance walking route, which passes just a few hundred metres to the East.
Chris Sangster, director and chief executive of Australian company Scotgold Resources, said: “The results from the drilling programme have shown an area of highly anomalous gold and platinum group elements with copper, nickel and cobalt over the Sròn Garbh mafic complex.
“The potential deposit style adds an exciting new dimension to Scotgold’s exploration programme and represents a significant new target in addition to the narrow vein gold and other targets identified elsewhere within the Scotgold’s licence areas.
“Scotgold are keen to advance further work in the area as soon as possible.”
Dr Dave Holwell of the University of Leicester’s department of geology, who has contributed to a recent scientific paper on this kind of mineral deposits, said: “This is most certainly an exciting discovery.”
Scotgold said drilling on Beinn Udlaidh also revealed traces of platinum, but at much lower levels than those found at Sròn Garbh.
The company said its crown licences give it the right to prospect for and give an option to enter into a lease for gold and silver.
Other minerals generally belong to the landowner, it said, but Scotgold holds an access agreement to carry out exploration with the relevant landowner and a first right to negotiate a mineral lease.
Last month, Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority gave the final go-ahead for the Cononish gold mine which Scotgold Resources wants to exploit over a period of 10 years.
Deposits of gold at the mine, in the shadow of munro Ben Lui, are estimated to be worth £80m. It has pledged to provide £200,000 to the local community and an annual grant of £30,000 to the Strathfillan Community Development Trust once commercial production of gold begins at Cononish.
