Investor joins search for gold in central Scottish mountains

Image source, Erris Resources

Image caption, A 10g gold nugget was found at the Glen Almond site in July

A new investor has stepped into the search for gold in the mountains of central Scotland.

Erris Resources has signed an option to buy 80% of a project aimed at exploring in two sites on the south side of Loch Tay, between Kenmore and Killin.

The area being considered for gold mining covers 237sq km (91.5sq miles).

Lead-workings at the village of Ardtalnaig have shown the rock has "good prospects" of including gold, silver and zinc.

The other site of interest is Glen Almond, near Ardtalnaig, where a team from Leeds University found a 10g gold nugget in July.

The same project reportedly found 77 fine grains of gold while panning further downstream.

Image caption, The project is 40km from Scotgold's mine at Cononish, near Tyndrum

GreenOre, the company which has signed the investment with Erris Resources, has already carried out sampling of rock at the sites.

Erris Resources chief executive Anton Du Plessis said the targets in central Scotland were "highly prospective".

He said: "This gives us exposure to new gold targets that have not previously been tested, but which are located in the highly prospective Grampian gold belt that already hosts some important gold deposits, such as Curraghinalt."

The project is 40km (24.8 miles) from Scotgold's mine at Cononish near Tyndrum, which is close to starting production.

Earlier this year, a gold hunter claimed to have discovered the UK's largest gold nugget in a Scottish river.