Kiwi strikes it rich prospecting in the Welsh mountains

Press, 8 January 1980, Page 13

Kiwi strikes it rich prospecting in the Welsh mountains

By

BRENDAN LYNCH

in London

Although few antipodean prospectors have recently struck it rich at home, one enterprising Aucklander is at present reaping a rich harvest in the hills of north Wales.

He is 46-year-old Ray Thackwell, whose Snowdonia mine has been yielding visible gold for the past six months. And it’s no ordinary gold. Tests of recent samples have shown a content of more than 500 oz gold per ton — unlike the paltry 1 oz per ton of the more famous South African gold. “This is only the tip of the iceberg,” the elated Thackwell recentlj' told BBC television viewers. “Although our gold is in clusters, unlike the solid seams found elsewhere I am certain that we’ve only begun to scratch the surface here.”

Ray Thackwell is a born adventurer who left his Auckland home at the age of 15 to go speedway racing. Within a short time, his skill and dash had earned him an international cap and he was soon riding as partner to the then world champion, Ronnie Moore. It was while riding in Britain with Moore that he first heard the stories of gold in the Welsh hills, “but I was more obsessed with speed then,” he says. “And it was only while mining subsequently in Australia that it all came back to me.”

In the late 19505, Ray Thackwell progressed to car racing and he quickly became a Formula 2 star, doing all the major European races with such legendary figures as Denny Hulme and Jack Brabham. Motor racing was a much

more dangerous activity then than it is now and in the absence of rollover bars and fireproof clothing, many of his friends were killed. Although Hulme and

Brabham eventually went on to world championship successes, lack of funds forced Ray Thackwell to return home. In 1961, he emigrated to Perth and within a short time he was

back in racing again, winning many important sa-loon-car events. Restless as ever, though, he decided to conquer a new element and for the first time in his life he sat

down to a prolonged course of serious study, in order to qualify for a commercial pilot’s licence. He passed all his examinations and within a short time he started his

own small charter company.

Among the people he regularly carried were geologists and surveyors, and during the mining boom of the early seventies one of those suggested to Ray that he should also join the mineral hunt. Although he uncovered no precious finds, he was soon making a good living from an amethyst mine, in which he still owns a half-share.

At the end of 1977, the Aucklander decided to come to Britain to investigate the stories he had heard about gold in the Welsh hills. After several trips to north Wales, he eventually came across a farmer, Jack Williams,

whose family had worked for generations in the local goldmines. He convinced Ray Thackwell that there was still plenty of gold to be found and the New Zealander then set about the laborious business of tracing the owners of the mine in which Williams had worked as a young man.

After a year’s investigation, he was able to buy a long lease on the mine and early last year he set about clearing the long-blocked shafts. By late spring drilling operations had begun. Under Jack Williams’s guidance the team of five miners soon uncovered the first clusters of gold. Work had to be curtailed for a while when Ray Thackwell installed extra lighting and more efficient pump-

ing facilities — the work area runs under a mountain stream. But once back to mining, the team continued to find rich pockets of gold. Both feel that it is only a matter of time before they hit a really .big patch of gold and the Welshman is elated about the progress made so far. “For * years I’d been telling people about the mine’s possibilities,” he says, “but Ray was the first person to take me at my word.”

Thackwell in turn says that Williams’s mining experience has been invaluable. “Jack’s been at it for all his early life and all his family before him and he knows exactly

where to look. It was from this mine that the gold came to make the Queen’s wedding ring and I’ve no doubt that the place will become even more famous in the future.”

The New Zealander has just bought a new orecrusher and he is examining means of increasing the scale of his activities. He says “we are not doing any large-scale blasting and we are working very narrow seams. But I might review the situation as we go along and expand the operation to take in a different part of the mine.” Already there are a couple of miles of tunnel leading to as yet untapped areas, so it seems as if the enterprising Kiwi is sitting on a very large goldmine indeed.