Mineral investigations in the Scardroy area, Highland region, Scotland

The discovery by Consolidated Goldfields of the Gairloch Cu-Zn-Au deposit in 1983 was one of the more notable successes for mineral exploration in the United Kingdom (Jones et al., 1987). Integrated exploration outlined a severly deformed, but potentially economic, volcanic-hosted massive sulphide deposit (Besshi-style) within the Loch Maree Group near Gairloch. The work was concentrated over the Gairloch Schist Belt which forms the main outcrop of the Loch Maree Group on the western side of the Loch Maree Fault. Reconnaissance studies were carried out by Consolidated Goldfields over the Loch Maree Schist Belt to the east of the fault and also in the Scardroy area further to the south east (Jones et al., op. cit.) but the results of these studies were not presented in the published paper. As Besshi-style VMS deposits are often stratigraphically controlled and extend over long distances. further exploration was warranted in rocks of similar age. This open file report gives the results of a geochemical survey of the Scardroy area which was carried out by the British Geological Survey as part of the Mineral Reconnaissance Programme (MRP) for the Department of Trade and Industry. A brief introduction to the geology and regional geochemistry of the Scardroy area is given before the results of the MRP survey. The Scardroy area is situated about 45 km to the south-east of Gairloch and about the same distance west of Inverness. It is drained by the rivers Meig and Corrin at the head of Strathconan but extends to the south west as far as Loch Monar (Figure I). Most of the area is mountainous moorland given over to deer forest with a few coniferous planatations in the lower valleys.