A group of mines on Ecton Hill, Staffordshire, are unusual for the Peak District in producing predominantly copper rather than lead and zinc.
It is located in the Staffordshire Moorlands area, where the valley of the River Manifold cuts through Lower Carboniferous limestones which have been subjected to folding and faulting during the Hercynian and Alpine orogenies.
To work the near-vertical ore bodies, the miners used then state-of-the-art technology paid for from the profits made for the mine's owner, the Duke of Devonshire.
At Clayton Mine from 1814 onwards there were underground steam engines that utilised the old pipe-workings above that ran to the ridgetop from the heart of the hill to take the smoke to surface rather than suffocating the miners.
From the 1790s onwards, when the main pipe failed at depth, Deep Ecton Mine was a shadow of its former self, with miners working in previous generations' leavings.
In the 1990s archaeologists discovered that copper mining at Ecton actually started in the Bronze Age about 3500 years ago: this is one of only two sites in England where this has been demonstrated.
Thanks to the generosity of Mrs Elizabeth Cox, the Trust is the owner of the relevant mineral rights of, and the Study Centre at, the 18th Century Ecton Copper Mines in the Peak District National Park.
The Trust provides the facilities for school and university teachers to bring students for one-day or two-day field courses that introduce young people to subjects relevant to the minerals industry.
EMET owns and manages the G A Cox Study Centre which can be used as a meeting place, a lecture room (with a capacity of 25) or a laboratory (with all the equipment required for the EHFSA courses and more).
Recent developments include one-day courses for GCSE students, Primary schools and general interest groups such as geological societies and U3A members.