Mineral Wealth Everyone has heard about the Peak District’s old lead mines but did you know that there was copper to be found here too, at Ecton Hill in Staffordshire where the Duke of Devonshire had a hugely profitable mine. Very brave tourists could even take a trip down it in the 1760s. Nobody thinks about coal from the Peak but it was mined around Buxton and Whaley Bridge into the 20th century. The mines were mostly very small and worked with very basic machinery like horse engines. The old lead miners used to discard all sorts of other minerals they found along the way such as fluorspar and barytes and calcite. They did save the pretty ones because they knew the mineral collectors would buy those and there was a market for coloured earths and manganese to make pigments for paint. One or two of those pretty pieces they saved turned out to completely new to science. Have you ever heard of Matlockite or Cromfordite? They are real but incredibly rare. Nowadays the useful Peakland minerals are the very ones the old miners used to throw away. Want to know more? There is an excellent fact sheet about Mineral Extraction, produced by the Peak District National Park Authority. Click here to view it. More Pictures Peak District Mining Museum Mineral Wealth.