Gold found in Southern England

Southern England, hardly a hotbed of mineral exploration, has recently stirred the interest of the British Geological Survey’s (BGS) minerals group.

After students submitted gold-bearing soil samples from the South Hams area of Devon, the BGS launched an intensive stream sediment sampling program to evaluate the area’s precious metal potential.

“Almost immediately, several gold grains up to two millimetres long were found in a small stream. The grounds were rounded or octahedral crystalline and had not travelled far,” says the BGS’s Don Cameron.

Cameron used 4-kg samples sieved through a two-millimetre mesh and panned down to about 120 grams of concentrated heavy metals.

Although gold has been found in the Devonian sedimentary and volcanic rocks, Cameron believes the mineralization is not extensive enough to explain all the anomalies found during the sampling program. He says the gold’s origin provides “ample scope for speculation.”

A number of private mining companies have now been licensed to prospect the area.