Lead ore has been mined and refined in Scotland for centuries. Lead was typically found as the ore galena. It was used as roofing material for high-status buildings, to make the pipework of the fountain at Linlithgow Palace, to glaze windows, and in the manufacture of alloys such as pewter and latten. Lead was a valuable commodity, with rights reserved to the crown, and was exported abroad. Centres included Leadhills in South Lanarkshire and nearby, Wanlockhead in Dumfries and Galloway; Beinn Chùirn near Tyndrum; Strontian; Minnigaff near Newton Stewart; Woodhead at Carsphairn; and Islay. Abandoned workings include buddle pits which were used to separate heavy lead ores. Significant and notable industrial heritage includes the Wanlockhead beam engine.
Abandoned lead mine buildings at Mulreesh on Islay.
Site of abandoned 19th-century lead workings and settlement at Woodhead near Carsphairn.
Lead pipes brought water to the fountain at Linlithgow Palace in 1538, and parts of the roof were covered with lead
Old lead mine workings at the head of Glengonnar
Gold has been mined in Scotland for centuries. There was a short-lived gold rush in 1852 at Auchtermuchty and Kinnesswood, and another in 1869 at Baile An Or on the Kildonan burn in Helmsdale in Sutherland. There have been several attempts to run commercial mines. In the Lowther Hills, Leadhills, and Wanlockhead areas gold prospecting and the extraction of lead metal went hand in hand. From 1424, under the Royal Mines Act, until 1592, gold and silver mined in Scotland were deemed to belong to the crown. The 1592 Act vested rights for gold, silver, lead, copper, tin, and other minerals in the king's feudal tenants or other leaseholders, who would pay 10% of any profit to the crown. The Act also established a Master of Metals as a crown officer, a position held from June 1592 by Lord Menmuir. followed by Thomas Hamilton of Monkland in March 1607.
The Gold Burn at Kildonan, Sutherland
English prospectors Bevis Bulmer and George Bowes found gold near the Elvan water in the Lowther Hills.
George Douglas of Parkhead was said to have been killed by a landslide at his mine near Shortcleuch water while searching for gold.