STUNNING crystals found by lead miners in the North Pennines will be the centrepiece of a sparkling display in Weardale in the next few months.

The Friends of Killhope have been given £10,286 by cement company Blue Circle to buy a mineral collection for a temporary exhibition. A more permanent display featuring models, activities and commentary, is to follow in the next two years, when the North of England Lead Mining Museum, sets up a gallery to tell visitors about the region's mining heritage.

Museum projects officer, Ian Forbes, said: "Weardale is a very important location for these miners and yet there is nowhere in the North Pennines where you can see them on their own patch. We are trying to redress that."

Fluorspar mining, mainly for production of lead and steel, was introduced to the North Pennines in the late 1800s.

As reserves of lead ore dwindled, many mines were switched to fluorspar working by private mine owners.

At the height of the steel industry there were dozens of small mines dotted around Weardale.

But the decline of steel-making, combined with cheaper imports of spar from China, spelt the death knell for the industry, and the last cluster of mines, near Rookhope, closed in 1998 - leaving fluorspar a novelty for Japanese designers to use in costume jewellery.