Trip to Prince Edward Gold Mine -- 11th January 2015

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Trip to Prince Edward Gold Mine -- 11th January 2015

Group: Paul C, Roger, Stephanie, Stu, Dave

The first trip of the New Year saw a car load head out towards Trawsfynydd on a grey and breezy day. We parked up just after the farm on a patch of grass at the side of the track and got changed quickly. The track seemed to have a better surface than others had described and we could have driven a bit further, however the two mile walk was probably better for us. After about a mile the track split, and there was a bit of uncertainty as Dave had left the map at the car. It was clear that the tracks had been renovated to allow maintenance vehicles to work on the pylons. We headed directly on towards some distant workings, but then had second thoughts and Pauls mobile showed we should have stuck to the right hand track. We headed across some boggy ground and carried on along the track which climbed steadily. After a while the ruins of the miner's workshop came into view and dropping down towards the stream, the entrance portal was visible.

Having opened and re-secured the gate we headed in. After a short distance we came to an opening on the right which originally housed the gold store. This had two doors, the outer door being still present while the remains of the inner door lay bent and battered on the chamber floor.

Carrying on along the main passage there are a few little flowstone stals and some quartz deposits with iron pyrites crystals. A cross-cut is reached, the RHS passage goes a fair way to end in a blank wall. There were a couple of interesting iridescent patches on the floor and similar features were found at the end of another cross-cut. Not sure what causes them.

The main passage led onwards to a junction with passages on both sides. The LHS passage had some stoping above and a small sump a little way in on the right. Continuing a short blind rise on the left was met and the passage had about 8" of water before reaching a blind heading. The RHS passage had more extensive stoping with some timberwork and a few more side pasages. There was also a flooded incline with rails disappearing into the depths.

Continuing in-bye a complex junction was reached with stoping and a ramp and rise as well as several passages containing water to varying depths. The knee deep water was only braved by dave who found it was short lived and led to a long passage with a flooded shaft and windlass. Some of the side passages had quite extensive iron staining. Back at the ramp it was possible to climb up into the stopes and there were several blind intermediate levels and one of these had some little stals stained green with copper salts.

In the upper reaches one route led to an unclimbable shaft to the surface, but further round was another climb which led to an easy ramp the surface and from which we finally exited.

After a scramble over the fencing we headed back to the track and the long walk back to the car.

An interesting trip, about 3 Hours in total