WHEN Welsh mining comes to mind the hills surrounding Llanidloes are not the first places which spring to mind. However minerals have been mined in the area since before the Romans who exploited earlier workings with evidence of a track from the site of early mines in the north west of Llanidloes to the site of the Roman fort in Caersws. The Romans had certainly recognised the wealth of the lands which had once been the domain of the Ordovice tribe. However it would be several centuries before any mining on the scale of the Romans took place in Llanidloes.