Much of my research through the 1980s and 90s was into the metalliferous mineralisation of the old lead-mining district of Central Wales, although by the mid-90s I had started to explore all over Wales in conjunction with the Minescan project (see Conservation for details). This enabled an extremely detailed mineralogical picture to be built up for the orefields of Wales. For a list of publications please click HERE.

Such research involves fieldwork (mapping and sampling), followed up by laboratory investigations (reflected light microscopy, electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction and electron microprobe analyses). The information generated by such work is not only of academic importance. It has applications in many issues surrounding metal-mining, from economic through to environmental.

Closer to home, the Central Wales mining district is now recognised as a complex orefield in which multiple phases of mineralisation involving not only Pb and Zn but also more exotic elements like Co, Ni and Sb have occurred. Click HERE for details. More generally, we have Volume 2 of A MIneralogy of Wales coming up soon, but this time it will be in the form of a website. This allows either myself or my colleagues at the National Museum, Cardiff, to keep updating it as and when interesting new discoveries are made.