Thomas Icely had identified the presence of copper ore close to the homestead, as early as 1847. He had shafts—referred to as the Coombing Mine—sunk to mine the lode from 1848 to 1851. In 1875, this mine was reopened—by Lewis Lloyd and Saul Samuel—and, in 1876, a copper smelter was built close to it. A separate location on the property—about 2km south-east of the homestead, close to the modern-day Fell Timber Road—was, from 1876 to 1878, the site of the Geraldine copper mine.