Searching for gold in Scotland’s Loch Tay with Erris Resources 

David Hall, CEO of Erris Resources. Image: David Hall

Once the existing restrictions have been lifted, and we hope that will be fairly shortly in Scotland, we will get back in the field with detailed geological mapping, further rock sampling, and a soil sampling grid over poorly exposed areas, aiming to define drill targets in the area.

At the same time, the planned area is big and we are looking to expand the programme with new parameters within the license, targeting 280km² of land – those are the short-term development plans for the project.

The project is still at an early stage, but there is a large mineralised gold plus silver plus base metals system. The Grampian Gold Belt is emerging as a new gold area and we have known deposits ranging from Cononish with 300,000oz to Curraghinalt with greater than 3,000,000oz, so the potential is there for a gold deposit within this large range.

It’s a simple option leading to joint venture agreement – Erris can earn up to 80% of the licence by defining 250,000oz gold resource within four years. There is no funding commitment, so we can move as fast as we want. Of course, with the extra funding we can advance the work once restrictions are lifted. GreenOre has also supplied us with their local geologist, which allows us to build up on the excellent relationships they have established in the area.

We suspended field work back in March, but what lockdown has allowed us to do is look down and catch up with all the data. We've been able to review the information we found from our sampling and geochemistry, and also immerse [ourselves] in literature research and studies of the Grampian gold belt. We're glad we’ve put that time to a very good use.

When you're working in the field, walking around the mountains, social distancing is easy to apply, and we would hope that once we get to the fields, we will be able to move very quickly. We’ll probably rent a house to use as base office accommodation; of course, while following advice, practising relevant social distancing, and reviewing health requirements.

I have been lucky to work in many countries and in many of the major gold belts. The Loch Tay project within the so-called Grampian Gold Belt is only now getting the attention it deserves. We already have one world-class gold project in Curraghinalt – measured and indicated resources of 6.35Mt averaging 15 g/t Au – for just over 3 million ounces. There is abundant evidence of gold throughout the region and the lack of discoveries to date is probably a result of lack of exploration, rather than not being present.

Some challenges in developing mines are permissions and social licences to operate, but we are in an area where not just one, but two mines have been permitted – Cononish within the Loch Lomond and Trossochs National Park and Duntanlich baryte mine near Aberfeldy, developed by a company that is part of Schlumberger, a large oil services firm. So, there is already an understanding of mining and its benefits within the community.

The concept of social licensing is very important and that starts when we begin exploration. The real challenge right now, however, is to make that major discovery, then we can move forward from there.