Click to view attachmentA huge copper nugget weighing several tons was found in Wisconsin. Can anything like this be found in Az. Co. or N.M? Is there any money in copper nugget hunting? For more info google copper nuggets and go to image results.

LOL jesus thats a huge chunk of copper if I ever found something that size i dont know how I would ever get it home. hmmm if it was gold id figure something out lmao - Ronnie

I saw one bigger than this in Michigan once, but not in Arizona. - Terry

Chances for a really huge one like that being found in AZ are low.

I have seen a photo of one from Alaska that size or larger found in the 1800s.

Chris

I sat on one while hunting up in the Michigan UP that was about 1/2 that size showing above the ground 18-20 years ago but there is just no way to get my truck there and get it in the box.
That is a good find

Kurt

4 ounces is the biggest I've seen in Az . Came from the black canyon. Earl had a bigger one an oldtimer found years ago (where else) in Copper basin that had some matrix. It was several pounds as I recall.----Bob

I've heard of some nice ones coming out from around Bisbee, but nothing that massive. The chances of a person detecting a copper nugget in AZ is good. They are often found in the same gullies & gulches that carry gold nuggets, and are always a great clue. There is lots of copper to be found here in the desert, but the Keweenaw Peninsula is definitely the place for a trophy. Multi-pound pieces are not uncomon finds for detectorists over there. Below are some pieces in my collection that came from Michigan. The largest weighs over ten pounds...

There is a copper mine off HWY 152 about 6 miles from I-25 in New Mexico that I was told by the Care Taker this past week they were working to reopen it.You can see copper ore all around the claims and there is gold also but it's a byproduct to the copper.If you have a drywasher you can find some gold but don't look for water to run it wet.
Chuck

My mom grew up on the Keweenaw Peninsula and all of my Finish relatives up there were miners. My uncle told me about native copper so big and pure they just mined around it because it was too difficult to get it out from the very deep mines there. You can't blast it apart into small pieces. There are hundreds of multi hundred pound nuggets in peoples yards up there. I've found some copper nuggets in AZ in the 1+ oz. range.

I've been told that due to the fact that all copper mines are set up to process copper in ore form , that the native copper is not desirable. it would take a totally different process to handle copper nuggets.---Bob

I read that in the early days of placer gold mining in Bingham Canyon (now what is the Kennecott Copper Mine in UT) they would run across copper nuggets up to around 50 lbs. and since copper was only worth 12 cents a pound at the time, they would throw them aside and consider them a constant nuisance.