Native Copper Found in the Bradshaw Mountains
Rich nuggets and sheet copper taken from the Buster mine
A report on an unusual deposit of pure native copper found in northern Arizona's Buster mine, describing the remarkable form the ore takes underground.
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Mesa Free Press · November 12, 1897 · Page 1
1 min readThe only native copper discovered in northern Arizona comes from the Buster mine, in the Bradshaw mountains. The native copper is taken from the ground in solid nuggets and leaf-like sheets, the latter from four to six inches wide, from six to fourteen inches in length and from the thickness of a knife-blade to one-quarter of an inch. These leaf-like layers run in veins through seams in the ore, which is more in the nature of a deposit than a vein and crops out on top of the mountain.
A tunnel driven in the side of the mountain 350 feet below the apex struck the ledge, and it is from this tunnel that the richest specimens come. Another tunnel will be run in 700 feet lower down, and if the deposit is struck at that point a smelter will be erected. The ore runs from fifty to eighty per cent copper.
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