Copper Ore was discovered at Mount Gunson in 1875 and the first recorded production was from 1899. A smelter was subsequently erected in the Main Open Cut (MOC) area in 1904. Small-scale production continued in the area until the Cattlegrid deposit was discovered, and subsequently mined by CSR Limited from 1974 to 1986, with 7.2 Mt of 1.9% Cu ore mined from the Cattlegrid open pit. Together with 270,000 t of MOC ore, the tenements recorded production 127 000 t of copper, 62 t of silver and 2900 t of cobalt in concentrates.
From 1987 to around 2006, Adchem produced over 14,000 t of copper in cement for feed to the Burra cupric oxide plant from the Mt Gunson Project, principally from heap leaching of 1.2 Mt of 1.3% copper oxide ore from the MOC area, Gunyot, House and Core Shed deposits.
The leases forming the current project were subsequently acquired and are currently held by a family-owned earthmoving contractor based in Adelaide, whom previously operated their own copper oxide leach operation.