Rio Tinto
Samuel Franklyn Hunt discovered trace copper ore here in 1919, staking claims which he named Rio Tinto after the Spanish mines that produced ore for 3,000 years. It took until 1930 for his finds to attract attention, and with Ogden Chase Hunt started the Rio Tinto Copper Company. Ore assaying 47% copper was finally located on December 26, 1932, and announcements of this find began a rush to the area. Soon the International Smelting & Refining Company (part of the larger Anaconda Copper Mining Co.) purchased the Rio Tinto Co., renaming it the Mountain City Copper Company. Nearby Mountain City was revitalized and the new company town of Rio Tinto was laid out with wide tree-lined streets, fine company houses, apartments, electricity, water and sewage systems, a movie theater, recreation center, grammer and high schools, and an athletic field.
Within five years, Rio Tinto became Nevada's second largest copper producer with a 300-ton mill (enlarged to 400 tons in 1938). Operations weren't affected by World War II due to the nature of copper, but plummeting ore values following the war eventually led to the mine's demise. The mine quit producing in February 1947, and the mill was shut down that September. By 1949, Rio Tinto was abandoned and many buildings were relocated to Mountain City, Elko, and Carlin. Total copper production was approximately $23 million.
