Gold diggers at Suisgill Estate pan plan to charge hunting fee
Mike Merritt
The Kildonan Burn was at the centre of a gold rush in 1869, but landowners are now charging for the right to pan for the metal
MICHAEL MERRITT; DE AGOSTINI/GETTY IMAGES
A Highland estate is charging gold hunters to pan its burns after claiming that prospectors are being irresponsible.
The Suisgill Estate, near Helmsdale, Sutherland, has drawn gold seekers since 1868, when a local resident found ore in its streams. Landowners are now charging £10 a day to search for ore and panners have started a petition in protest.
Alexander Darwall, a City fund manager and his wife, Diana, bought the estate in a multimillion-pound deal in 2016 and are restricting panners to two weeks a year. The Kildonan Burn, which runs through the estate, was the centre of the "Great Sutherland Gold Rush" of 1869.
Colin Stark, 52, who spends six months of the year searching for gold in the Highlands, called on the landowners