The Dunrobin deposit was initially mined from 1928 to 1941 with an estimated 31,593 ounces of gold recovered over that period from a total tonnes treated of 91,173 at an average recovered grade of 10.8g/t from a small open pit and underground operations.

In 1997, Reunion Mining plc (Reunion) acquired the Dunrobin project and completed a total of 181 metres of diamond drilling (in three drill holes) and 2,680 metres of RC drilling in 56 drill holes. Reunion subsequently established that a mineral resource amenable to open pit mining could be defined at Dunrobin. Reunion completed a mine scheduling program for an open pit. The shell of the pit was generated using Whittle optimizations. Reunion established the Dunrobin mine infrastructure with a US$4.5 million gold loan. The mine is reported to have initially suffered a number of operational setbacks mainly related to lower than expected gold recoveries off the heap leach pad. In January 1998, operations were reportedly scaled back to 10,000 ounces of gold per annum from 20,000 ounces.

In April 1999, Anglo American plc (Anglo American) made a takeover bid for Reunion, subsequently acquiring total ownership of the company. During 2000, ownership of the project was transferred by Anglo American to Sutherland Service which, with Caledonian Minerals, undertook a limited program of open pit mining before the mine was closed in December 2000.