Cornwall mineral exhibit opens after £476k revamp

The Mineral Gallery had been closed since January for the transformation

A mineral exhibition containing thousands of samples has reopened to the public after a makeover costing hundreds of thousands of pounds.

As part of the revamp the Mineral Gallery at the Royal Cornwall Museum has new exhibits, a high-tech video display and a new lighting system.

There are 12,000 mineral samples in the collection, which bosses say give a unique insight into Cornish mining history.

Staff at the museum in Truro said they were "delighted" with the new display.

The money for the revamp work came from Town Deal Funding

The gallery has been closed since January for the revamp which has cost £476,000.

The chair of the Royal Institution of Cornwall, the charitable body behind the museum, Julie Caplin Grey said it was crucial that they made the collection more accessible to all people.

"If you're a geologist you love them because they're minerals, and actually they're very beautiful, so you can enjoy them for their beauty," she said.

"But there's something in what we're trying to do with the interpretation, and that's to connect up the dots to how they're relevant now, whether it's in your mobile phone or your car battery, there's such connectivity.

"We need to tell that story because it's the story of Cornwall, in the past and now."

This sample of Liroconite - a compound of copper, aluminium and arsenic - was found at St Day and is the largest known example in the world, experts say

The transformation lead for the project, Jackie George, said they wanted to "make the museum more inclusive and open to a wider range of people".

Julie Caplin Grey said the exhibition helped tell the story of Cornwall mining

The museum's artistic director, Bryony Robins, said: "It [the collection] was looking a bit tired, a bit dusty, a little bit old fashioned but the collection in there is so exciting, it just needed bringing to life."

The money for the work came from the Town Deal Funding.

Alan Stanhope, chair of Truro Town Deal board, said: “The opening of the Mineral Gallery is the first Truro Town Deal project to reach completion, which is an exciting milestone for our programme of investment."

The old display cases are still being used, with a new lighting system

The mineral specimens, like these iron pyrites crystals, are spot-lit to show off their sparkle