1. The History
(a) Klondyke Smelting Mill
The mill was constructed by the Welsh Crown Spelter Company. Formed in 1899, it was a subsidiary company of the English Crown Spelter Company, an English Company involved in zinc smelting. Its Welsh subsidiary then worked a number of local mines in the area to supply its English owner with blende. One of the biggest was Pandora mine, 1.5 miles south-south-east. The company also developed the small mine known as Klondyke, adjacent to where the mill was built.
With plans for expanding the production at Pandora mine, a new, large dressing mill at Klondyke was planned, with the ore being carried to it on a two-mile-long 22½" gauge tramway, before descending via aerial runway from the hillside above directly into the upper floor of the mill itself. In September 1901, one year after work had started on the mill’s construction consulting engineer, George Grant Francis, reported to shareholders' that the company that they had built two water tanks, laid two pipelines, cut, and laid over two miles of tramlines in workings, and connecting mines and mill and erected a 700ft long cableway and erected the mill-house. This was all financed via a new share issue.
The main mill building housed a stonebreaker, Cornish rolls, trommels and jigs machinery and also had a turbine room and a separate office building to the north, half-way to the road bridge.
Klondyke mine lay immediately adjacent to the mill, on the other side of the River Geirionydd. It consisted of one main adit heading south-east, directly below the line of the aerial ropeway into the mill. The adit then split into a number of very short levels, presumably showing the intention of developing the mine in a several directions. However, all three tunnels head off to the right, all in a general southerly direction. See map below:
The mine was worked in conjunction with numerous other smaller adit workings upstream of the mill in Geirionydd gorge, including the aforementioned Bryn Cenhadon Mine. These, along with Pandora mine, were linked to mill by the aforementioned tramway that ran along the eastern shore of Llyn Geirionydd. See below:
Shareholders were informed the future was bright, with Grant Francis was claiming ore reserves totalled some 40,000 tons. However, the reality was rather different as two years post completion the mill had still failed to record any profits. But Francis remained up-beat waxing lyrical and stating there where “no mines and works of their class more up-to-date in natural facilities, equipment, and staff in the United Kingdom, and I am proud to be the chief engineer of them." However, in July 1902, shareholders were informed that still no ore had been processed at Klondyke.
With huge debts, falling ore prices, and the huge underground reserves predicted were not yielding the profits anticipated the writing was on the wall. While the parent Company was doing well, the mines had been bought by the Company for just £5,000, but that some £28,000 had been spent on them. The inevitable happened in January 1905 when The Welsh Crown Spelter Company went into voluntary liquidation. Despite this, Klondyke mill continued operating on a smaller scale until its closure in 1911. An initial buy-out of Pandora and Klondyke by the North Western Spelter Syndicate in 1906 produced over 10 tons of lead ore and 50 tons of blende before an option on seeking additional funds run out after a year. In June 1907 an auction advertisement (see below) appeared in the Mining Journal, selling many of the mechanical assets of the Welsh Crown Spelter Co. Everything, down to the last mining wagon was bought by a Liverpool colliery owner, who went on to form the New Pandora Mining Syndicate Ltd., registered in 1908. However, this too folded in 1912.
The next turn of events enters into the realms a Hollywood storyline. In 1918 Joseph Aspinall, a miner with a criminal record that saw him do time, formed the Crafnant and Devon Mining Syndicate Ltd having purchased the lease from the Trefriw Mining Company. Aspinall made claims he’d stuck a rich lode containing silver. His scam involved the use of the mill building and of the adjacent mine entrance. He carried out the scam using local men acting who acted as miners as he showed prospective investors around the mill and mine. It even involved the gluing of 20 tons of lead concentrates to the walls to give a sparkling appearance. Eventually he was rumbled but not obtaining some £166,000 from his victims (equivalent to approximately £6.6 million in today’s money!). A second term in jail of 22 months ensued.
(b) Bryn Cenhadon Mine
Just north of Llyn Geirionydd on both banks of the Afon Geirionydd and at the foot of Mynydd Deulyn, Bryn Cenhadon was one of the many lead mines on the Gwydir Estate. The mine is mentioned in Robert Hunt’s 1873 Mineral Statistics of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Consisting of a number of adits and shallow shafts, the lower entrances are levels driven on both sides of the gorge, some with substantial stoping. At the head of the gorge is a line of shallow shafts. Beyond that, there isn’t a lot of info out there about this place.
2. The Explore
Having just about exhausted my mine exploring options in Blaenau, I know turned my attentions to slightly further afield from where we were staying. Having negotiated the narrow and winding roads to Llyn Geirionydd, I parked up at the head of the lake and headed down the Afon Geirionydd gorge on the public footpath. I soon came to Bryn Cenhadon Lead Mine. I made my way down the bank and across the river and started to poke around the many adits and stopes. The most promising adit was the one at the top of the hill. However, like with most lead mines, the entry was narrow and pretty steep, and I thought better of going in too deep given I was solo. So, I carried along the footpath then turned left onto an old miner’s track that winds down to Klondyke mill. The mill is pretty imposing externally but internally it is pretty much a shell. And an unstable one at that. Stupidly, I forgot to check the gated main adit out before winding back up the miner’s track to my car.
So, nothing spectacular but a lovely way to spend an hour or so.
3. The Pictures
Bryn Cenhadon Mine first:
Overview of the mine:
Atop the several spoil heaps:
Looking into one of several stopes:
And another:
And on up to the top adit:
In we go:
Those stacked-up deads look a bit disconcerting:
Time to head back out:
And on to Klondyke mill. It’s an impressive structure poking its head above the treeline:
Done the last part of the track, over the stream and here we are:
The heavily buttressed outer wall:
Obligatory “Keep Out” message:
And again...
Former engine base?
A bit shady overhead!
A few remnants of the smelter’s former machinery:
Finally, an old trough:
(a) Klondyke Smelting Mill
The mill was constructed by the Welsh Crown Spelter Company. Formed in 1899, it was a subsidiary company of the English Crown Spelter Company, an English Company involved in zinc smelting. Its Welsh subsidiary then worked a number of local mines in the area to supply its English owner with blende. One of the biggest was Pandora mine, 1.5 miles south-south-east. The company also developed the small mine known as Klondyke, adjacent to where the mill was built.
With plans for expanding the production at Pandora mine, a new, large dressing mill at Klondyke was planned, with the ore being carried to it on a two-mile-long 22½" gauge tramway, before descending via aerial runway from the hillside above directly into the upper floor of the mill itself. In September 1901, one year after work had started on the mill’s construction consulting engineer, George Grant Francis, reported to shareholders' that the company that they had built two water tanks, laid two pipelines, cut, and laid over two miles of tramlines in workings, and connecting mines and mill and erected a 700ft long cableway and erected the mill-house. This was all financed via a new share issue.
The main mill building housed a stonebreaker, Cornish rolls, trommels and jigs machinery and also had a turbine room and a separate office building to the north, half-way to the road bridge.
Klondyke mine lay immediately adjacent to the mill, on the other side of the River Geirionydd. It consisted of one main adit heading south-east, directly below the line of the aerial ropeway into the mill. The adit then split into a number of very short levels, presumably showing the intention of developing the mine in a several directions. However, all three tunnels head off to the right, all in a general southerly direction. See map below:
The mine was worked in conjunction with numerous other smaller adit workings upstream of the mill in Geirionydd gorge, including the aforementioned Bryn Cenhadon Mine. These, along with Pandora mine, were linked to mill by the aforementioned tramway that ran along the eastern shore of Llyn Geirionydd. See below:
Shareholders were informed the future was bright, with Grant Francis was claiming ore reserves totalled some 40,000 tons. However, the reality was rather different as two years post completion the mill had still failed to record any profits. But Francis remained up-beat waxing lyrical and stating there where “no mines and works of their class more up-to-date in natural facilities, equipment, and staff in the United Kingdom, and I am proud to be the chief engineer of them." However, in July 1902, shareholders were informed that still no ore had been processed at Klondyke.
With huge debts, falling ore prices, and the huge underground reserves predicted were not yielding the profits anticipated the writing was on the wall. While the parent Company was doing well, the mines had been bought by the Company for just £5,000, but that some £28,000 had been spent on them. The inevitable happened in January 1905 when The Welsh Crown Spelter Company went into voluntary liquidation. Despite this, Klondyke mill continued operating on a smaller scale until its closure in 1911. An initial buy-out of Pandora and Klondyke by the North Western Spelter Syndicate in 1906 produced over 10 tons of lead ore and 50 tons of blende before an option on seeking additional funds run out after a year. In June 1907 an auction advertisement (see below) appeared in the Mining Journal, selling many of the mechanical assets of the Welsh Crown Spelter Co. Everything, down to the last mining wagon was bought by a Liverpool colliery owner, who went on to form the New Pandora Mining Syndicate Ltd., registered in 1908. However, this too folded in 1912.
The next turn of events enters into the realms a Hollywood storyline. In 1918 Joseph Aspinall, a miner with a criminal record that saw him do time, formed the Crafnant and Devon Mining Syndicate Ltd having purchased the lease from the Trefriw Mining Company. Aspinall made claims he’d stuck a rich lode containing silver. His scam involved the use of the mill building and of the adjacent mine entrance. He carried out the scam using local men acting who acted as miners as he showed prospective investors around the mill and mine. It even involved the gluing of 20 tons of lead concentrates to the walls to give a sparkling appearance. Eventually he was rumbled but not obtaining some £166,000 from his victims (equivalent to approximately £6.6 million in today’s money!). A second term in jail of 22 months ensued.
(b) Bryn Cenhadon Mine
Just north of Llyn Geirionydd on both banks of the Afon Geirionydd and at the foot of Mynydd Deulyn, Bryn Cenhadon was one of the many lead mines on the Gwydir Estate. The mine is mentioned in Robert Hunt’s 1873 Mineral Statistics of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Consisting of a number of adits and shallow shafts, the lower entrances are levels driven on both sides of the gorge, some with substantial stoping. At the head of the gorge is a line of shallow shafts. Beyond that, there isn’t a lot of info out there about this place.
2. The Explore
Having just about exhausted my mine exploring options in Blaenau, I know turned my attentions to slightly further afield from where we were staying. Having negotiated the narrow and winding roads to Llyn Geirionydd, I parked up at the head of the lake and headed down the Afon Geirionydd gorge on the public footpath. I soon came to Bryn Cenhadon Lead Mine. I made my way down the bank and across the river and started to poke around the many adits and stopes. The most promising adit was the one at the top of the hill. However, like with most lead mines, the entry was narrow and pretty steep, and I thought better of going in too deep given I was solo. So, I carried along the footpath then turned left onto an old miner’s track that winds down to Klondyke mill. The mill is pretty imposing externally but internally it is pretty much a shell. And an unstable one at that. Stupidly, I forgot to check the gated main adit out before winding back up the miner’s track to my car.
So, nothing spectacular but a lovely way to spend an hour or so.
3. The Pictures
Bryn Cenhadon Mine first:
Overview of the mine:
Atop the several spoil heaps:
Looking into one of several stopes:
And another:
And on up to the top adit:
In we go:
Those stacked-up deads look a bit disconcerting:
Time to head back out:
And on to Klondyke mill. It’s an impressive structure poking its head above the treeline:
Done the last part of the track, over the stream and here we are:
The heavily buttressed outer wall:
Obligatory “Keep Out” message:
And again...
Former engine base?
A bit shady overhead!
A few remnants of the smelter’s former machinery:
Finally, an old trough:
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