800 years of Scottish mineral exploration, from monks in Leadhills to hi-tech in Aberdeenshire

From early lead and gold mining by monks in Leadhills, to the coal mines that fuelled the Industrial Revolution and a surge in mineral discoveries in the 1970s stimulated by the UK’s Mineral Exploration And Investment Grants Act, today’s nickel-copper exploration in Aberdeenshire is just the latest effort in an 800-year history of exploring Scotland’s mineral wealth. The talk will be a brief journey through some of the highlights of this legacy and the changing technologies used, as the foundation to Aberdeen Minerals’ own drilling, geophysics and geochemical exploration at and around the Arthrath Project. The team’s latest findings, models and ideas for nickel-copper sulphide mineralisation in Aberdeenshire will be presented, as well as an overview of a busy programme of field surveys and drilling works planned over winter 26/27.

Fraser is a geologist with a 29 year career in mineral exploration working on discovery, exploration and mine development projects for gold, copper, tungsten and nickel in Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and South East Asia. He joined Aberdeen Minerals as CEO in July 2022 and today leads a small, specialist team in the search for base metals within the prospective geology of North East Scotland.