A museum that celebrates Arizona's minerals and history of mining has a new funding source and will reopen after closing in 2011.

As the Associated Press reported, the Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum, located at 15th Avenue and Washington Street in downtown Phoenix, is getting a new lease on life thanks to the state Legislature, which passed a bill to transfer ownership of the museum to the University of Arizona. Governor Doug Ducey signed the legislation in late April.

The UA will now be responsible for museum operations, but the state will contribute $600,000 per year to the facility. That money will go toward rent and hiring a curator, the AP reported.

When it was open, the museum was renowned for its extensive mineral and rock collection, along with the mining artifacts and equipment on display. Some 40,000 schoolchildren toured the museum every year, museum supporters told the AP.

The facility closed in 2011 for renovations, but funding for those improvements never materialized and the museum remained closed. Much of the mineral collection has been on display or in storage at an Arizona Historical Society facility in Tempe.

There was no timetable for when the Mining and Mineral Museum might reopen.