The Klondyke Mine is famous for being the site of a grand fraud. One John Aspiinall bought the mine in 1918 brought in lead ore from Devon and 'pasted the passages with the crushed ore'. Investors soon began to arrive from London to see the mine thinking there a rich strike. Some were hosted with champagne or given trips on his yacht, but it was all a scam. According to one source "Whenever Aspinall turned up with a viewing party, a hoot of his car horn triggered the miners to busy themselves around the premises - some guarding the adit with cudgels, others running around the place like ants on an ant hill. By the time he was rumbled, he managed to secure £166,000 ! He got 22 months". (Various sources and local people.) The processing building handled ore from a nearby mine in the next valley.
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Keywords:aspinall, crafnant, cymru, fraud, klnodyke, klondike, lead mining, llanrhychwyn, llyn geirionydd, snowdonia, trefriw, wales
