The Kanmantoo Copper Mine is located 25km away from Mount Baker in the Adelaide Hills region of South Australia.

Copper was first discovered here in the 1840s.

It was opened in 1970, and mining was carried out until 1976 when it was closed due to low prices and increasing copper mining costs.

The mine was re-opened in December 2007 and is still operating to this day.

The mine is owned by Hillgrove Resources Limited.

Copper is a metal that has been deposited from hot sulphur solutions, created in volcanic regions. 

Copper is created in large masses of molten rock that cooled and solidified in the Earth's crust. At first, the copper is spread throughout the large mass of molten rock in low concentrations. As the magma cools and crystals begin to form, the amount of magma becomes smaller. The copper remained in the magma, becoming more and more concentrated. When the rock was almost completely solid, it contracted and cracked and the remaining copper-rich fluid was squeezed into the cracks, where it finally solidified. Over many millions of years the rocks covering these deposits eroded away and the deposits eventually appeared at the surface.

It is often found in deposits with other metals such as lead, zinc, gold and silver.