Just a quick geological interlude! Difficult to compare this deposit to e.g. Gairloch because Sandlodge (so far as I am aware, and I've read odds & ends about it over the years) is an epigenetic vein deposit with quartz, carbonates, chalcopyrite, tetrahedrite and hematite - whether the latter is primary or secondary I don't know, but the oxidation-zone appears to have been well-developed as the site was famous for its malachite, which earned it a mention in Greg & Lettsom's Manual of the Mineralogy of Great Britain and Ireland (1858). They say: "In very fine acicular crystals, almost equal to the Siberian specimens, at the old copper-mine, Sandlodge". Praise indeed! They also report native copper from there.
Regards - John
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