Hi there all,

I am new to all this but have miners and quarrymen in all branches of my family, more or less!

I'm really mainly interested in Welsh involvement in the slate mines/quarries of North America (especially the New York/Vermont areas) because a great-great-grandfather emigrated there from Penmachno in 1883. But my great grandfather, Edward Roberts was the last train driver on Mynydd Parys (Paris Mountain) on Anglesey before the family went down south to the Maesteg coalfield for a while in the 1910-1920's.

Another great grandfather was Hugh Hughes of Betws y Coed. He was a lead miner and upon losing his work went to Africa to work in the Taku / Takoo Gold Mines, presumably in the Gold Coast. I have no idea where in Africa it was but have it in my head that it was in that area because his son, my grandfather said that he worked for Germans as well as the British and the French. I think I'm right in saying that the Germans were in that part of Africa for a while. The spelling of the gold mine is based solely on the phonetic pronunciation by my grandfather of where his father went. This would be in the 1910's, I think. I have not been able to trace this place though I have a couple of photos of him in Africa. My ancestor recruited other Welshmen from Betws y Coed to go with him. He died in Wales from malaria! Would anyone know where this Taku Gold Mine was/is?

My grandfather said that he uncovered an undiscovered seam of lead in Betws y Coed as he built a retaining wall at the old family home, but he covered it up quickly so as to hide the fact. He did not want his drive dug up by prospectors!!

Any help would be gratefully received.

Diolch yn fawr / Thank you very much,
Trebrys.

You're right, Togo, next door to Ghana, was at one stage a German colony. That all changed after 1914-18. Possibly gold mining there in the period you mention?

Very possibly Tarkwa ?

Big gold mining centre in Ghana - old underground ops recently gave way to some massive open cut operations (last 25 years).

Cheers

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Thank you both so very much for that! It was a real buzz to find Tarkwa........it has to be there, doesn't it?
In theory, I have a few photos of my great-grandfather with some of the natives there, though one of them at a mine shaft cannot be located at present. I also have a fly swatter (it's gold coloured, though I don't think it's gold leafed) that I'd like to be looked at to try to pinpoint where he was.

Would anyone know how to get the history of Tarkwa Gold Mines? The web doesn't seem to have anything major on it.

Best wishes,
Trebrys

A snippet from the Western Times. The Wassau and Tarkwa districts were in the Gold Coast Colony.

🔗Personal-Album-272-Image-77208[linkphoto]Personal-Album-272-Image-77208[/linkphoto][/link]

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Another snippet from a newspaper. The Gold Coast Railway is interesting and someone has done much research on it which is handy because it puts the Tarkwa mines in context and supplies a map which shows the exact location.

http://www.engrailhistory.info/r139.html 

🔗Personal-Album-272-Image-77209[linkphoto]Personal-Album-272-Image-77209[/linkphoto][/link]

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Some more detai on mining in the area. Apologies as it's a bit difficult to read but the PDFs are encrypted and I haven't yet found an easy way of extracting the info.

🔗Personal-Album-272-Image-77215[linkphoto]Personal-Album-272-Image-77215[/linkphoto][/link]

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lots of stuff on the Times online, generally you can access that free if you have library membership which subscribes to that.

lots of stuff on the Times online, generally you can access that free if you have library membership which subscribes to that.

I realise that AN, thanks. I have access to many local newspapers online via the British Library but they don't make it easy to extract information from any individual page. Unless I'm missing something which is always a possibility.

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I worked in Ghana for a long time I think you might be talking about Kankoom mines south west of Tarkwa mines it went out of operation just before second world war when a "consolidation act" was brought in . The equipment and personnel from all the smaller mines was concentrated on the major producers such as Tarkwa, Ashanti, Bibyani etc to concentrate production and reduce the need for machinery shipped in (submarine warfare ) . The country of Togo was a german colony but fell to British forces quite quickly as it is surrounded by Benin (French) Nigeria(British) and Gold Coast (British and home of the West African Rifles Regiment). Hope this helps

Many thanks to all who answered! The information is very much appreciated. But also, very sorry for the LONG delay in responding......have had horrible trouble with my computer, but all is well now.

Will keep you informed if I learn anything new.

Regards,Trebrys.