Copper is an ore found with gold and silver by a group journeying in the wilderness in the land of promise (1 Nephi 18:25). Nephi taught his people to work “in all manner of wood, and of iron, and of copper, and of brass, and of steel” (2 Nephi 5:15).
Jarom said, “we multiplied exceedingly” and became rich “in iron and copper, and brass and steel,” making tools to till the ground and weapons of war (Jarom 1:8). Breastplates brought by a group were “large, and they are of brass and of copper” (Mosiah 8:10).
He laid a tax of one fifth part of copper and caused workmen to make fine work within the temple walls “of fine wood, and of copper, and of brass” (Mosiah 11:3; Mosiah 11:10). People who worked in ore dug from the earth and cast up heaps of earth to get “ore, of gold, and of silver, and of iron, and of copper” (Ether 10:23).